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| Fall 2004 This is a wonderful album, filled with some old standards but given a new life with a real charm and warmth of Ms. Monheit's delivery and tone. Jane Monheit is headed in the right direction and we all wish her the best down her path of class and talent. You wouldn't go wrong buying a couple of these albums...for yourself and as gifts. Go to her web site and have a listen. http://www.janemonheitmusic.com/ Jane Monheit's eagerly-awaited Sony debut album, Taking A Chance On Love, is in stores now! It features a dozen romantic songs from the glamorous era of the MGM musical, including "Honeysuckle Rose," "In the Still of the Night," "Embraceable You" and "Dancing in the Dark." Through her seductive and utterly irresistible voice, it's like hearing them for the first time.
1 Honeysuckle Rose 2 In The Still Of The Night 3 Taking a Chance on Love 4 Bill 5 I Won't Dance (with Michael Buble) 6 Too Late Now 7 Why Can't You Behave? 8 Do I Love You? 9 Love Me Or Leave Me 10 Embraceable You 11 Dancing in the Dark 12 Over the Rainbow Jane Monheit falls in love every time she sings. You hear it, with style and soul, in the luscious curves of her amazing voice. The way she teases new angles out of beautifully chiseled tunes. The way she coaxes a bit more sass, an extra degree of heat from a debonair lyric. And who wouldn't fall in love with songs like "Embraceable You," "Honeysuckle Rose," "Taking A Chance On Love" and "In the Still of the Night"? For Monheit, these songs form a virtual soundtrack of her life, one she began hearing as a little girl, swept up in the magic of the classic MGM movie musicals. They inspire her first recording for Sony Classical, titled Taking A Chance On Love. It's all about being in love - from Monheit's irresistible affection for these classic songs, to the way sparks fly when she sings them. "This music has been a part of my life since I was very young," Monheit says. "Jazz was a huge part of that, especially the standards sung by the great vocalists. My family is incredibly musical, and I was surrounded by music from the time I was a baby. I loved watching old movies, which is where I heard these songs. So while I was discovering them in the movies I saw, I was also hearing them sung by singers like Ella Fitzgerald in the records my parents would play." The songs Monheit has chosen for the Sony Classical recording, produced by Peter Asher and Al Schmitt, are naturally called standards, but there is nothing "standard" about them here. Though each song is a legacy from a vintage MGM musical, Monheit delivers a fresh new reading of all of them. She sings here in a variety of musical settings-with her razor-sharp quartet, which performs with her in clubs and concerts (including her husband, drummer Rick Montalbano), and in more expansive arrangements, like the rapturous, reflective Vince Mendoza orchestral chart for the Dietz/Schwartz classic "Dancing in the Dark." Among the extraordinary guest artists on the recording is phenom bassist Christian McBride, who sets the pulse in high-spirited renditions of "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Love Me or Leave Me," as well as the exceptional talents of pianist Geoffrey Keezer and alto saxophonist Donald Harrison. In addition to "Dancing in the Dark," Alan Broadbent's arrangement of Cole Porter's "Do I Love You" and Jorge Calandrelli's beautiful treatment of Porter's "In the Still of the Night" cradle Monheit's interpretations in settings that echo the deluxe soundscapes that were synonymous with MGM's "dream factory" musicals. At the other extreme, the singer delivers a voluptuous take on "Bill" from Show Boat, partnered by nothing more than Michael Kanan's seductive piano, and Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo's sleek styling is the perfect vehicle for Monheit's conquest of the Gershwins' "Embraceable You." Singer Michael Bublé guests with Monheit in the zesty stand-off, "I Won't Dance," an impudent Jerome Kern tune which features a swinging arrangement by the award-winning arranger and producer Rob Mounsey. The duet showcases bassist extraordinaire Ron Carter, drummer nonpareil Lewis Nash, and a stellar all-star New York horn section. The recording also includes the Duke/Latouche/Fetter classic "Taking A Chance On Love," as well as smoldering interpretations of Lerner and Lane's "Too Late Now" and Cole Porter's "Why Can't You Behave." As a bonus track, Monheit has created a new version of a special MGM classic - Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's "Over the Rainbow" - which she sings over the end titles of the adventure film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Jane Monheit is in her element, and Taking A Chance On Love is a recording that was meant to be. "When I was growing up and had unrequited loves, I went through all the magical things that happen when you're a teenager, and I identified those experiences not only with the pop songs I heard every day but also with these songs as well," Monheit recalls. "So as I sing the songs, I already have these memories attached to them and all those experiences come flooding back to me. Since I'm married to a jazz musician, who grew up with this music in the same way, it feels as if the romance in our relationship leads back to these standards. I'm deeply, emotionally connected to this music." Sultry and beautiful, Jane is already a jazz diva who ranks with the very best, a star in the ascendant who has made it at the age of 26. From her emergence at the tender age of 20 at the 1998 Thelonious Monk Competition to the international acclaim that greeted her third solo album In The Sun, she has astonished listeners with the depth and range of her irresistible gifts: a deluxe voice and a passionate spirit spiked with an uncanny jazz sense that reinvents the great standards of American popular music. Monheit wowed the jury of the 1998 Monk competition, in which she took second prize to the late Teri Thornton, who was making a dramatic career comeback in the competition, shortly before her death. Monheit's performance led to her immediately being signed for her first solo recording Never Never Land, which placed her in the company of jazz veterans such as pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman. The album remained on the Billboard Jazz Chart for over a year, and the Jazz Journalists Association voted it Best Recording Debut. Her second album Come Dream With Me debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Chart in May 2001. Her third solo album In The Sun was released late last year. "I think I always knew I wanted to be a jazz singer," Monheit says. "For a long time, I was guided by my love for musical theater-I performed a lot of theater when I was growing up-but jazz had always been one of my passions. These songs are part of that. When I went to Manhattan School of Music and decided to study jazz, it was the strength of these songs that convinced me. It's impossible to be bored by them. They're the building blocks of popular music today." A native of Long Island who now calls Manhattan her home, Monheit numbers among her musical family an aunt and a grandmother who were both professional singers, a brother who plays rock guitar, a father who plays bluegrass banjo, and a mother who performed in musical theater. She studied clarinet and music theory, and took the leads in theatrical productions in high school. She got her start performing on the South Shore of Long Island, and she began formal vocal training at the age of 17 at New York's Manhattan School of Music with Peter Eldridge, a founding member of the vocal group New York Voices. About her influences, Monheit quickly says, "First and foremost, Ella Fitzgerald. When I was a child, I was obsessed with her records, singing along with them, trying to match every note. But I love all the greats-including Carmen McRae, Sinatra, Mel Tormé-and I have a special feeling for Irene Kral. The great vocal groups-Take Six, New York Voices-have been a big inspiration to me, and I have a lot of influences from outside of jazz such as Barbara Cook, and singer/songwriters like Bonnie Raitt and Joni Mitchell." Monheit began work on her first recording after completing her studies at Manhattan School of Music in 1999. In addition to her three solo recordings, she has already been featured on two Sony Classical recordings. With violinist Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Trio, Monheit was guest artist (along with Wynton Marsalis) on In Full Swing, a celebration of the unique sound of "le jazz hot" from the 1930s in the collaboration of violinist Stephane Grappelli and guitarist Django Reinhardt. She also joined jazz greats Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson and Dianne Reeves on Let's Get Lost, trumpeter/bandleader Terence Blanchard's Grammy-nominated tribute to the songs of composer Jimmy McHugh. The release of Sony Classical's Taking A Chance On Love brings the singer full circle, with a choice selection of the great songs that first gave flight to her musical imagination. For Monheit, it's not about mere nostalgia. It's about something more elusive, more alive. Cool and hot, crisp and luscious, elegant and jazzy, classic and fresh-a voice to fall in love with. |
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