Dayna Kurtz

Dayna Kurtz
New Orleans, LA
Grant amount: $10,322

About the Artist

Over the past two decades, internationally lauded “songwriter’s songwriter” Dayna Kurtz has intermittently dived into her crate digger’s curated repertoire of largely obscure jazz and R&B gems, as well as penned originals designed to sound as though they’d been unearthed from the same record hound’s favorite crypt, all caressed with the rich, rough and smoky vocals the Washington Post once described as a “…deep hued garnet of lifeblood and beauty.” Now living in New Orleans, she seems to have found the natural habitat in which she can finally double down on her secret calling, fronting Lulu and the Broadsides with revered jazz upright bassist James Singleton (James Booker, Irma Thomas, Chet Baker, Astral Projekt, Nolatet, Dianne Reeves), drummer Carlo Nuccio (Dr. John, Allen Touissant, Irma Thomas), guitarist Robert Maché (Steve Wynn, The Continental Drifters) and keyboardist Glenn Hartman (New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, David Lindley), slinging made-for-dancing-and-romancing the way it used to be done – smart, loose, and sexy.

The Broadsides' band leader, Dayna Kurtz, is an acclaimed international touring artist whose credits as an opening act include Dr. John, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Keren Ann, Richie Havens, Norah Jones and Mavis Staples. She's appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, World Café, and was named ""Songwriter of the Year"" by the National Academy of Songwriters in 1996.

“There’s no logical reason why Dayna Kurtz is not a full blown star...Dayna Kurtz's husky, emotionally torn voice creates a dark-eyed cabaret, expressing jagged emotions with the slightest sigh or grand, moaning sustain.” – Boston Globe (James Reed)

“Dayna Kurtz’s diverse vocals feel both old and new, recalling Nina Simone of yesteryear…hypnotically haunting” – New York Post

"Kurtz tilts her head back at an angle and spins melodic, earthbound poetry that sets loose demons only to dismiss them into the ether...Kurtz makes ordinary misery voluptuous, and sings other people's songs as if she knows better than their authors what those songs are about." -Judith Lewis, LA WEEKLY

“…Like a younger Nina Simone, Kurtz can switch from languorous reflection to wounded, gutsy attack.” – Q Magazine

“...everything falls breathtakingly together: lyrics, melody and that tremendous voice. Mitchell, Piaf, Holiday – she belongs alongside such huge names.” -Frits Abrahams, NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands)

Dayna Kurtz is the kind of artist who inspires wild-eyed zealotry among her fans, and there are three reasons for it: One, she's an artist's artist, one whose whiskeyed, determined alto often earns her comparisons with Nina Simone; two, while Europeans adore her, she's obscenely underappreciated in her own country; and three, her songs, which straddle a difficult space between jazz, r&b, and folk, are pure poetry. - Tammy La Gorce ALL MUSIC GUIDE

“Kurtz has an instantly recognizable voice, an almost hoarse whisper full of weary passion that sounds both comforting and dangerous, a voice on the edge of enlightenment or madness. “Love Where Did You Go” is as mournful and poetic as anything Leonard Cohen has ever cut, while she makes Billie Holiday’s “Left Alone” as chilling as the original, with an understated reading full of anguish and regret.” - HARP