Texas-raised jazz vocalist Kate Kortum performs at the Monterey Jazz Festival for the first time this year. But she already has an invitation to return to the Monterey Peninsula in February to take the stage at the Sunset Center.
It takes just a few seconds in the range of her full-bodied voice to understand why. Listen to Kortum’s take on Bessie Smith’s 1924 song “Easy Come, Easy Go Blues,” which is available online. The 24-year-old vocalist, who didn’t even plan to become a singer, is also a declared feminist, unafraid to examine the historical conditions of what it meant to be a jazz diva – often a femme fatale – performing songs largely written by men.
That was the theme of her much-acclaimed 2023 debut album, Good Woman. Kortum followed with Wild Woman in 2025, and this year released Wild Woman Tells All, her latest 18-song record.
Ahead of her first appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the young vocalist – whose striking red-on-red portrait stands out in this year’s lineup – spoke to the Weekly by video from her home in New York. In an interview, Kortum sounds far more seasoned than her years, and this has been a big year for her.
Weekly: This is your first time at Monterey Jazz. What does it mean to you?
Kortum: It is my first time at the festival, and I think of all the iconic performances that have come out of Monterey. A festival with that kind of history feels really special. It’s a milestone for me to be part of it.
You live in New York now. How did you get there?
I moved here a little over three years ago to go to school at Juilliard. I did my undergrad in Florida, so I’ve kind of been on all the coasts.
Tell us about the trio you are in, The Sunhouse Singers.
Yes. We all met at the University of Miami, and then we all kind of moved up here together. By happenstance, all our plans took us to New York, so we kept it going. One of the members, June [Cavlan], is also performing at Monterey on Sunday, as a soloist.
You played other instruments before singing. What drew you to the voice?
I loved music from a very early age. I was always singing, and I started piano lessons early. In high school I played saxophone and flute in a band, and I loved it – but I never felt as fulfilled as when I was singing, even if it was just in private, for myself.
It was always the stories that pulled me toward music. The lyrics are what drew me in. Jazz – especially the songbook – has such applicable stories written into it, and there are new compositions doing the same.
Jazz history is full of great women vocalists who were treated badly by the business. Ella Fitzgerald matters to you. Is it a lot to step into those shoes so young?
Ella was really my gateway, but even more so Carmen McRae, who is so unapologetically herself, and Billie Holiday and Anita O’Day. All these women had such a unique perspective on the songbook, and it really drew me in.
I talk a lot about how many of these standards were written by men, but sung from the female perspective, which I find so interesting. That became the focus of my work as I started building a body of music to share.
Many of the songs tell stories of being infatuated and helpless, and that isn’t an emotion I ever really felt. It didn’t reflect what was happening in my life. So I try to reflect my own experience in the music I write and arrange, and to channel the unapologetic sass and presence of the women who came before me and who were so important to me.
Is there a song you know will move the audience, one you might open with?
Lately I’ve been opening with a song I wrote called “Welcome (Into My Mind),” which opens my last record. In recent shows we’ve turned it into a medley with “The Great City.” I love it because it’s very plain text. The first lyrics are: “The sweet and inviting sound of my voice,” which is kind of funny.
I might open with it, but no promises.
KATE KORTUM 6pm Friday, Sept. 25. Monterey Jazz Festival, Pacific Jazz Cafe. $68; $43 youth for a single festival pass (grounds only, including Pacific Jazz Cafe). Monterey County Fairgrounds, 2004 Fairground Road, Monterey. (831) 308-4653, montereyjazz.org/festival.