Jane Monheit: Greatest Hits

Steve Murray | November 11, 2015

Jane Monheit

Greatest Hits

Venetian Room, San Francisco, CA, November 8, 2015

Reviewed by Steve Murray for Cabaret Scenes

After ten albums, two Grammy Award nominations and sold-out performances worldwide, Jane Monheit can certainly perform a set of greatest hits if she wants to. Coincidentally, her personal favorites, combined with fan requests, make for a sensational evening of some of her finest performances of the Great American Songbook. Couple that with a preview of Monheit’s forthcoming Ella Fitzgerald project and you have one of the finest vocal performances of the year.

Backed by one of the best swing bands around (Michael Kanan on piano, Neal Miner on bass and her husband, Rick Montalbano, on percussion), Monheit’s sensual vocals massaged the lyrics of Irving Berlin’s “I Used to Be Color Blind,” Cole Porter’s “All of You” and “Taking a Chance on Love” (Vernon Duke with lyrics by John Latouche and Ted Fetter) with the band cooking and bubbling the rhythms underneath and in between.

Her cover of Rodgers and Hart’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” becomes a jazzy opus, her vocals stretching over the melody and Montalbano’s steamy drumbeats. Ballads flow easily: “All Too Soon” (Duke Ellington/Carl Sigman) and “In a Sentimental Mood” (Ellington/Manny Kurtz) sung à la Fitzgerald with Monheit’s very delicate phrasing. She was recuperating from bronchitis, coughing between lyrics, yet never missing a beat, to which she credited the “special prescription ‘Tussin.” At 38, Monheit is a seasoned pro, delivering the goods come what may. By the encore of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s lyrically difficult “Waters of March,” I was once again astounded and impressed by her style and skill.

Tags: All of You, All Too Soon, American Songbook, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, Carl Sigman, Clubs, Cole Porter, Composers, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Grammy Award, Great American Songbook, Greatest Hits, I Used to Be Colorblind, In a Sentimental Mood, Irving Berlin, Jane Monheit, John La Touche, lyricists, Manny Kurtz, Michael Kanan, Musicals, Neal Miner, Nightclubs, Popular Song, Revues, Rick Montalbano, Rodgers and Hart, San Francisco, Show Tunes, Singers, Songbook, Special, Standards, Steve Murray, Supper Clubs, Taking a Chance on Love, Ted Fetter, Tussin, Venetian Room, Venues, Vernon Duke, Vocalists, Waters of March