Jane Monheit - Jane Monheit
Jane Monheit - Jane Monheit (Club44 Records, 2024)
Jane Monheit’s recording catalog of 15-plus albums released since 2000 stands up to any critical scrutiny. She is a commanding singer with an impressive range, depth, and breadth as well as ferociously solid chops. But with her eponymous recording, Jane Monheit, the singer is just plain showing off. Monheit’s power, grace and poise here are only equal to that of the accompanying musicians and chosen repertoire.
This recording and its source are the complete package. The album opens with a breakneck “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever,” Monheit lifted by The Nashville Recording Orchestra. Drummer Rick Montalbano set a nose-bleed rapid pace after a sumptuous introduction using brushes and the occasional bass drum bomb. Monheit, who is always in a dominant voice, surpasses that with an incendiary performance. “Young And Foolish” slows things down only for the singer to drop the barometric pressure, driving up the humidity on “What Lola Wants,” singing with the same sensual breathiness she used on a deliciously sexy duet with Jonathan Karrant, “Love Dance” from his 2023 recording Eclectic (Virtuoso Music).
Monheit translates this same ambiance to a medium tempo reading of the Sammy Davis Jr. vehicle “Too Close for Comfort.” The singer resonates with clever and inventive vocal fireworks that ride on the walking bass of Karl McComas Reichl (who also delivers a pretty nifty solo as well). Monheit’s plaintive take on Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” caps her urgent recital from the Great American Songbook at its margins.