Blest with one of the purest voices of today’s vocalist, Jane Monheit has always had the “perfect” album that captures her concert essence avoid her. Until now.
This one, with her working team of Michael Kanan/p, Rick Montalbano/dr, David Robaire/b, Miles Okazaki/g and Kevin Winard/perc accurately captures what it’s like to see Ms Monheit work a song, with this ten song collection sounding like a two drink minimum set. She sustains tension like a tightrope walky with percussive support as she acts out “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” while selling with conviction “Let’s Take A Walk Around The Park” with a fun intro. She slowly coos to Kanan on the sensuous “When A Woman Loves A Man” and is nimble around the pulse of the rhythm team on “I Believe In You”. You can feel the twinkle in her eye on the wanderlust of “The Nearness of You” and the joy in her lilt as she swings to Robaire’s bass for “On The Sunny Side Of The Street”. She plays the lounge lizard perfectly with Kanan on a desultory “Lush Life” while taking a trip down noir alley with strings on a Broadway read of “My Funny Valentine”. This is the Monheit you want to see in concert!