"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." -Jazz at Lincoln Center

In 1998, she was the runner-up (to the late Teri Thornton) in the Thelonius Monk Vocal Competition. The following year, she graduated from the Manhattan School of Music and was handed a recording contract. Four CDs later, Jazz Times dubbed her the "Golden Girl of Jazz." In between, Jane Monheit has been accused of a variety of sins common to young (and pretty) starlets--too much too soon, technical prowess over emotional expression, too pop, looks over artistry, seduction over substance.

Yet with each successive recording and each year on tour, Monheit, at only 26, has answered the skeptics with a rapidly maturing style, an increasingly evident passion for her material, and clear determination to be taken seriously as a jazz singer. Audiences who have followed her meteoric career, as well as newcomers to her charms, will have a number of opportunities to catch this enchanting songstress on her fall tour, from the Midwest (Cleveland and Minneapolis) to the east coast (Virginia's Wolf Trap, New York, Philadelphia, and points north), and out west (LA, Santa Cruz, Park City, and Seattle)--see the schedule below.

As a toddler growing up on Long Island, Jane Monheit was already belting out "Honeysuckle Rose" with the support of a family of musicians. Her father plays bluegrass banjo, her mother was involved in musical theater, an aunt and grandmother were professional singers, and her brother is a rock guitarist. Young Jane studied clarinet and music theory in school, and fell under the spell of Ella Fitzgerald, recognizing early on that she wanted to be a jazz performer. Playing the lead in her high school's theater performances, teen Monheit was also singing in Long Island's South Shore clubs. She did not begin formal voice training until she entered the prestigious Manhattan School of Music at 17, where she studied with Peter Eldridge of the New York Voices. During her college years, Monheit also appeared in cabaret clubs in the Village. It was her college boyfriend (now husband), drummer Rick Montalbano, who steered her toward jazz, and she began singing with Rick and pianist David Berkman in a quintet.

After winning the Monk Competition in her senior year at MSM, Monheit was offered a recording contract with N2K, leading to her first release, Never Never Land (2000), with backing from jazz giants Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Lewis Nash, Bucky Pizzarelli, Hank Crawford, and David "Fathead" Newman. The debut recording was an immediate success. With N2K spinning off to form N-Coded Music, Monheit had a deal for at least two more recordings and was picked up by Mary Ann Topper's Jazz Tree, the management agency that launched such stars as Diana Krall, Michel Petrucciani, and Joshua Redman. Come Away With Me followed in 2001, again backed by Kenny Barron as well as Michael Brecker, Tom Harrell, Gregory Hutchinson, Christian McBride, and Richard Bona; next came In the Sun, featuring Ron Carter (again) and Kenny Washington.

At this stage of her career, just two years ago, Mike Joyce of the Washington Post noted that Monheit's presentations "lack the deep soulfulness that other singers have brought to the same material," that despite her "impressive range and technique," her interpretations lacked emotion. While her heart was in jazz, her voice still echoed cabaret, and her popularity was perhaps due more to her perfect, sweet soprano and expertly styled "packaging" than to her jazz chops and personal approach. Her 2003 release Live at the Rainbow Room (N-Coded Music) was a notch above her earlier work, "more relaxed and in her element" while still reflecting "her appeal as a pop chanteuse" (Lloyd Sachs, Amazon.com). Again, she was supported by an all-star cast, including Ron Carter, Tom Harrell, Kenny Washington, and Joel Frahm.