Jane Monheit

With her 2007 release (Surrender) solidifying her reputation as a virtuosic interpreter of pop and Brazilian songs, Jane Monheit has continued on her predicted trajectory: She was runner-up (to the late Teri Thornton) in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition; graduated in1999 from the Manhattan School of Music with a recording contract in hand; and in 2002 was dubbed by Jazz Times as the “Golden Girl of Jazz.” 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—Monheit, now 30, “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). Audiences who have followed her meteoric career, as well as newcomers to her charms, will have the opportunity to catch up with Jane when she brings her working band to Yoshi’s, in San Francisco September 2-3 and across the Bay in Oakland, September 4-7.

Jane Monheit

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 placing runner-up in 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, three 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 style. Noted Sean Daly (Jazz Times, December 2002),  “If hubba hubba singer Jane Monheit were to style her Rapuntzelian hair in a safe Doris Day bob—and maybe blot that cherry-bomb lipstick on her pronounced pucker—the brouhaha about her legitimacy as a true jazz vocalist wouldn’t be nearly as fevered. If she were, say, dog-bone ugly with a stunning voice—instead of being drop dead gorgeous with powerhouse pipes—curmudgeonly critics in awe of yesteryear wouldn’t be trying nearly so hard to kill her buzz…” 

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.

In 2004, Jane Monheit seemed to be hitting her stride, finding her own voice in jazz. On her Sony debut, Taking a Chance on Love, she brought more depth and conviction to her interpretations of standards, leading UPI critic Frederic Winship to note that “her voice is agile, sensitive and skilled in providing fresh interpretations to the wordings of familiar songs, and her phrasing is perfection.”  Said Tad Hendrickson (Amazon.com), she “makes her leap to the majors and the fit is a good one” as she “expertly mines American standards by balancing pop's accessible sensibility and jazz's rich complexity… her exceptional technique again brings these songs to life without taking liberties with structure, melody or odd arrangements. It's her exceptional execution, tonal palette, and phrasing that gives these songs a sense of artistry.”

Monheit released her first holiday recording in October 2005, The Season (Epic). Noted Jane, “I'm one of those people who go just a little too crazy over Christmas. So in my head, I've been planning and conceptualizing this album for years. I was just waiting for the right time."

Surrender is Jane’s seventh release in seven years and her first for Concord. The title track was composed by her first and only vocal coach, Peter Elridge, with whom she studied at Manhattan School of Music. “He recorded it once himself,” noted Jane, “but other than him I'm the first person to record it. I've wanted to record one of Peter's tunes forever, but my previous albums were really standards-based. With the sort of time period I'm working on with this album, which is largely music of the 1960s and onward, it finally seemed the right project to include one of his songs, and ‘Surrender’ is my current favorite." As with recent recordings and on tour, Monheit is supported by regular bandmates Michael Kanan (piano and Fender Rhodes), Miles Okazaki (acoustic and electric guitars), Orlando Le Fleming (bass), Ari Ambrose (sax) and husband Rick Montalbano (drums). Of the more contemporary bent, Jane explains, “It is where I had naturally been leaning in my own life, and when it's time to make a record you've got to go in and do what's really feeling right." The addition of strings also felt right, notably on “Moon River” and “A Time for Love.” Songs of Brazil, always close to Jane’s heart, have appeared on previous albums, but never as prominently as on Surrender, including tunes from Jobim, Lins and Mendez. Noted Christopher Louden in Jazz Times, “Though none of the 10 tracks can be perceived as startlingly novel or daring, all are consistent with the warm, lovely and eminently accomplished work Monheit has been delivering since her 2000 debut.”

Jane Monheit’s creativity and jazz sensibilities reside not in invention but largely in interpretation, and often interpretation at a micro level where variation is spelled by nuance rather than by vigorous reconstructions. And hearing Jane live is a must. What does not come across readily on recordings is the range of emotion in her interpretations, easily observed in live performance, particularly if you catch multiple sets. Monheit wears her emotions on her sleeve—or, if she doesn’t wear sleeves, her emotions dangle from her eyes, the tilt of her chin, her posture, and most of all, from each note. She can be romantic and wistful, a bit cool and deliberate, or sultry and playful. Even if repeating a playlist over multiple sets, Jane rarely repeats herself in her expression of emotion, her tempo, her phrasing. And that by definition is the art of jazz.

Don’t miss this live performance by Jane Monheit!

Jane Monheit will perform September 2-3 at Yoshi’s in San Francisco (1330 Fillmore) and on September 4-7 at Yoshi’s in Oakland (Jack London Square). Visit www.yoshis.com for ticket information for both venues.