As a fan of old jazz standards, I am often confronted with covers of songs from the greats. I seldom hear any that do the originals, or early versions, justice. Usually, my argument is that, if you’re going to cover a song in a recording studio, you ought to change it to suit your own musical style, and to convey an entirely new idea that’s different from the old versions’. If an artist succeeds with the changes though, I’m usually disappointed with what they’ve done to an old favorite.

When I flipped over Kat Edmonson’s debut album, Take to the Sky, and saw that the first track was the beloved “Summertime” from the 1935 opera Porgy & Bess, therefore, I was suspicious. How many times was I going to have to hear this song destroyed before would-be singers realized it was out of their range, and that Janis Joplin really should have died being the last one to have reworked this dreamy aria? But I was pleasantly surprised. Edmonson’s voice is high-quality enough to take on Gershwin’s masterpiece; her honest and lilting tones clearly convey the kind of reassurance the lullaby-inspired aria should emit.

Edmonson is consistent throughout this album of ten covers. She gives each song her own pleasing twist through her breathy, Billie Holliday-like vocals. With a group of beyond-qualified musicians backing her and a Grammy-award winning engineer in the studio, the sound has to be the inspiration of high-fives all over the country.

Kat doesn’t stick just to the old jazz classics though – she gives the project a modern twist by throwing in a few pop songs: “Lovefool” by the Cardigans, “Just Like Heaven” by the Cure, “One Fine Day” by Carol King. Having been a teenager in the 90’s, when “Lovefool” was released, I was amazed at how beautiful this silly pop hit could sound when re-worked by these masters.

Overall, this album is shockingly good; especially considering it is Edmonson’s debut. Through some sleuthing, I discovered that she’s only been performing for about three years in local bars around Austin, Texas. She is young, she is unbelievably talented, and her career is ready to take off. I dearly hope that in her next album Kat treats us to some of her own original music, for that is all this album is missing.