Rating:
Genre:
Vocal Music
Release Date: 09/17/2002
Jane Monheit's third album attempts to combine a number of elements:
jazz standards, Brazilian repertoire,
ballads lushly orchestrated by
Alan Broadbent and
Vince Mendoza, and even
pop vehicles originally sung by
Linda Ronstadt and
Judy Collins. The young vocalist is usually at her best fronting a small combo; here one wishes she had relied more on her working band with pianist
Michael Kanan, bassist
Joe Martin, tenor saxophonist
Joel Frahm, and drummer/husband
Rick Montalbano. It is they who provide this record's most rewarding moments:
Martin reharmonizes
Ellington's
"Just Squeeze Me";
Kanan presents a funky take on
"Cheek to Cheek" and duets with
Monheit on an unusually slow
"Tea for Two." On these tracks one can hear
Monheit taking vocal risks, testing her mettle with bluesy inflections and bold peaks in volume. Much of the rest of the album is closer to
Streisand than
Sarah Vaughan, however. The final four tracks bog down in slow tempos and a vanilla-syrup aesthetic; her Portuguese-language rendition of
Ivan Lins'
"Comecar de Novo" seems especially contrived. But her duet with guitarist
Rene Toledo on
"Chega de Saudade" is more convincing, and
Lins' guest appearance on his own
"Once I Walked in the Sun" provides some lilting harmonic tensions.
~David R. Adler, All Music Guide
;)
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