Linda Kosut is a San Francisco-based vocalist and nightclub entertainer

Photo: Greg Habiby, ghimages

2008 BackStage Magazine Bistro Award – THE BMI AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING RECORDING

2008 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs - 2008 Double Nominee – FEMALE JAZZ VOCALIST & JAZZ RECORDING

2008 MEMBERS' CHOICE AWARD - TOP 10 CD OF THE YEAR, Cabaret Hotline

Linda Kosut is a San Francisco-based vocalist and nightclub entertainer whose eclectic repertoire covers jazz to pop to cabaret, deftly and effortlessly moving from one influence to the other. “Beyond Category.” Her voice is distinctive with its warm, dark sound and that rare talent to tell a story through a song's poetic images. Combined with her smart wit, Linda is both entertaining and moving. She has been known to hold her audience spellbound with her passionate and compelling vocal interpretations, sometimes to laughter and sometimes to tears. Linda makes any tune distinctly her own.

One of Linda’s full-length nightclub shows, Long as You're Living, a tribute to jazz great Oscar Brown Jr. and the accompanying CD released in 2007, has been presented at venues around the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, receiving national recognition and press.

Linda, a native New Yorker, grew up in a musical family and studied dance and piano as a young girl. After graduating college, she turned to the business world for her living while continuing to study both voice and acting. In the late 90's, several years after her move to San Francisco, Linda began singing again publicly, and by 2003, had released her highly acknowledged debut CD, Life is But a Dream – a mix of jazz standards and pop tunes. The CD was selected as one of the 2003 top female vocalist recordings by Cabaret Hotline, New York.

She toured with her first one-woman show in 2005, playing New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She's performed at many venues across the San Francisco Bay Area including sell-out performances at the Empire Plush Room and Jazz at Pearl's.

Linda co-founded the San Francisco vocal trio, The Kitchenettes, known for their swinging jazz renditions of food & lust related songs. Before their break-up to pursue solo careers, the group performed throughout California, in Italy, and in 2003, produced & recorded their CD Dining at the Banquet. Linda teaches performance technique & lyric interpretation, produces showcases for emerging vocal performers, as well as doing CD & promo material design. She currently lives in San Francisco with her fiancé, their 3 dogs, 2 chickens, 2 turtles, a rabbit and 40 aquariums!

REVIEWS

“The singer hits all the right notes on her ‘Long as You’re Living’ tribute...an illuminating view into the complex byways of Brown’s imagination...Kosut tackled it all with splendid results... [the show] deserved a far longer run." - Los Angeles Times

“It takes as fine an actor as Brown to do proper justice to his songs. So, it seems altogether fitting that a female cabaret performer … particularly one as gutsy as Linda Kosut, should pay album-length tribute to Brown.” - Jazz Times

“This album is almost like a collaboration. Linda’s voice is definitely one of the stars of the show, yet Oscar’s personality is ever present. His lyrical intent is never lost or buried even as Linda manages to artistically sit by his side. She is a singer of great ability.” - Jazz Review

“Holding the audience spellbound for an evening of largely unfamiliar and challenging material is no easy task, but that’s what Kosut did.” "She swings, she’s bluesy, dramatic and playful paying homage to Brown’s thought- provoking material; bringing her own subtlety and emotion to the stage." "She brings this timeless material to life for a new generation of listeners." - Cabaret Scenes Magazine

"Her voice...silky and sinuous … a smoky plaintiveness with an edge.” - San Francisco Bay Times

“Bang in the groove ... slinky and sly in unraveling the blues.” - All About Jazz

“A welcome reminder of the multi-faceted work of the man who proudly defied being categorized or pigeon-holed by one kind of music. Linda Kosut doesn't seem to have much interest in being labeled either.” Cabaret Exchange

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Linda Kosut performs "Summer In the City" with Norman Curtis at the piano, Max Perkoff on trombone, Tom Hubbard, bass and Scott Latzky, drums in NYC, June 1, 2007. Norman co-wrote this song with Oscar Brown Jr.