Richard Cortez, known for his ambition and extensive knowledge of The Great American Songbook, has shared the bandstand with some of New York City’s most celebrated and respected musicians — Sullivan Fortner, Adam Birnbaum, Paul Gill, Peter Bernstein, Grant Stewart, Alexander Claffy, Joe Farnsworth, Jerry Weldon, Joe Strasser, Nicole Glover, Russell Hall and Emmet Cohen — to name a few. Splitting his time between a number of weekly residencies at iconic LGBT venues across the city—among them: Club Cumming, Metropolitan Bar, and Rebar—Cortez has focused and refined his artistry while growing his wide fan-base. Recent performances in distinguished productions such as Live at Emmet’s Place with the Emmet Cohen Trio, or Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz at Pride with drummer/bandleader Bryan Carter, have marked the vocalist’s career for success. Cortez’s openly gay renderings of timeless treasures by Cole Porter, Billie Holiday, Jerome Kern, and so many others deliver swe