About This Show
Main Stage Showroom — Doors open at 5:30 PM for Dinner and Drink Service. Kate Kortum , vocalist from Houston, Texas, and Juilliard graduate, is t he 2025 winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition . She interprets the Great American Songbook with an intensely personal musicality, harmonically sophisticated improvisation, and a focus on inhabiting the lyric story. Kate Kortum : Vocals Tyler Henderson : Piano Juilliard graduate and 2025 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition winner Kate Kortum has emerged as one of the most compelling new voices in jazz. Seamlessly blending bebop and Broadway, she has performed at Birdland, Blue Note, Mezzrow, Dizzy’s Club, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and collaborated with Aaron Diehl, Jason Moran, Peter Bernstein, and Wynton Marsalis. Her latest album, Wild Woman (2025) pushes the boundaries of traditional vocal jazz, reclaiming music written by men through a boldly female perspective. The album has surpassed 5.1 million streams, with a deluxe edition released January 2026. “Kortum’s music has an old soul but a young heart. She takes big liberties on every swinging little number and those interpretative skills make her familiar music sound fresh.” — Matty Bannond, Jazz Journal UK www.katekortum.com