For my money, Jane Monheit is one of the best sounding vocalists around. She’s got the clearest sound, the strongest range, and can make you feel a lyric. Unabashedly sentimental and romantic, she exudes warmth when she tackles a song, especially in concert. Her studio material places second to her in person performances, but that’s simply the limiting factor of machinery. It’s hard to sonically record warmth.
Here, she’s with not only with her regular working band of Michael Kanan/p, Neal Miner/b and Neal Miner/b, but the rich and fresh arrangements by Gil Goldstein/key/acc are livened up with a folksy and 60s Brazil feel with the addition of cellos and flutes. Some of the material, such as the 60s classic “Until It’s Time For You to Go” has an “Eleanor Rigby” type of chamber music feel, while a dash of Brasil ’66 and bohemia is delightfully tasted on Ivan Lins’ “Depende De Nos” and “A Gente Merece Ser Felice.” She Monheit gets dreamy-eyed on “Little Man You’ve Had a Busy Day” and gloriously desultory on “Born To Be Blue. Her vocal control is magisterial, but without a hint of effort as on “A Gente” as she rides the escalator up and down with the woodwinds, and you can feel the moonshadows on the sparce “Two Lonely People.” She takes to composing as well, and her “Night and Stars” is an expected amalgam of open eyed wonder and Broadway drama, mixed with Monheit’s patented gentility and grace. If you want to see how to treat a lyric right, Monheit’s your lady.
Emarcy/Decca Records
Emarcy.com