"The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald,"
Jane Monheit's First CD
On Her New Emerald City Imprint,
Due for Release April 8
Produced & Arranged by Nicholas Payton,
CD Features Monheit's Trio
(Pianist Michael Kanan, Bassist Neal Miner,
Drummer Rick Montalbano)
Plus Daniel Sadownick, Percussion;
Brandee Younger, Harp;
Nicholas Payton on Trumpet & Keyboards
March 24, 2016
Vocalist Jane Monheit
had long thought about recording an Ella tribute. Fitzgerald's beloved
songbook albums held "Biblical" importance for her when she was growing
up and have never lost their hold on her.
Those dreams have come to fruition with Monheit's new album, The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald. It was the perfect maiden project for her new label, Emerald City Records,
which will release the disc April 8, on the cusp of the Ella Fitzgerald
centennial. On this new offering, Monheit pays joyous tribute to her
idol while sharing a definitive portrait of herself, guided by her
producer, arranger, and trumpet great, Nicholas Payton.
"This record is really different," Monheit says. "It's the
first time I've made a recording without a label and so I was able to
make all the decisions myself. Honestly, when I listened back to the
takes, I heard a different singer than I've heard before -- a more
mature one. It was a little scary because there's a certain raw quality
to some of the vocals but we gave no thought to fixing them. These were
the vocals of a 38-year-old woman with a lot of life experience. These
tracks really express who I am."
"My first priority was to make Jane comfortable, so all she
had to worry about was showing up and singing," says Payton, who first
met her in Brazil about five years ago and stayed in touch casually.
"But on the other hand, I wanted to make her a little uncomfortable by
pushing her into places she might not push herself. She is so
multifaceted. I wanted to showcase a lot of different things she loves
to do on any given night with her band that haven't necessarily been
brought forth on her recordings."
From the first song, "All Too Soon," a highlight of Fitzgerald's Duke Ellington Songbook,
it's evident that this album is not going to be your usual Ella salute
-- the kind that plays up the incomparable singer's swinging, scatting,
girlish side. Monheit is all woman here, pouring herself into the lyric
with sultry savoir faire.
"It is a salute in name only," writes Christopher Loudon in his JazzTimes
review. "Fitzgerald and Monheit are very different singers, their
approaches to the material similarly valid but utterly distinct.
Monheit's style is plusher and denser -- crushed velvet to Fitzgerald's
silk. . . . "
As the arranger of eight of the songs, Payton updated the
harmonies and overall feel of several of the tunes. "I wanted to make
them romantic and sexy," he says. "We look at love and sex a lot
differently today than we did 60 years ago." Longtime band mates,
pianist Michael Kanan and bassist Neal Miner, who each arranged two songs, also made contributions to the fresh arrangements on the album.
Kanan, Miner, and drummer Rick Montalbano -- Jane's working trio -- appear on the new CD, along with percussionist Daniel Sadownick; harpist Brandee Younger
(on two tracks); and Payton, on trumpet, piano, and organ. "Nick wasn't
planning on playing on the album," says Monheit, "but after we
discovered what strong chemistry we had, it was inevitable that we had
to play together. It was a real honor and a thrill for me."
Jane Monheit
has been on the world stage for nearly half her life, since placing as
first runner-up (behind Teri Thornton) at the 1998 Thelonious Monk
Institute's vocal competition. The Long Island native studied voice at
the Manhattan School of Music, where she met her husband, Rick
Montalbano, and graduated with honors in 1999. Her debut album Never Never Land -- featuring Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, and Lewis Nash -- was released the following year.
Monheit recorded prolifically for a number of different
labels before realizing in the last couple of years that she needed to
take more control of her artistic and career decisions; hence, the birth
of Emerald City Records. "You have no
idea how exhausting it was, bouncing from label to label," she says.
"Everyone wanted to mold me into something else. It became harder and
harder to put trust in people and to be myself."
In Payton, the vocalist has found a true creative partner. "I
felt an instant trust in him that I had never felt before with any
other producer," she says. The two envision The Songbook Sessions as the first in an ongoing series of collaborations.
Backstage at Birdland: Jane with Daniel Sadownick, Nicholas Payton,
Rick Montalbano, Michael Kanan, and Neal Miner. Photo: Richard Conde
Monheit and her trio will be featuring the music of The Songbook Sessions at the following dates: 3/22-26 The Royal Room at the Colony Hotel, West Palm Beach, FL; 3/30 Weill Concert Hall, NYC (w/ Michael Kanan); 4/7 Pines Theatre, Lufkin, TX; 4/9 Lancaster Middle School, Kilmarnock, VA; 4/10 Capitol Ale House, Richmond, VA; 4/14-17 Dimitriou's Jazz Alley, Seattle (JM Quintet); 4/18 Kuumbwa, Santa Cruz, CA (JM Quintet); 4/21-22 Yoshi's, Oakland (JM Quintet); 6/2-5 Blues Alley, Washington, DC; 6/25 Disney Hall, Los Angeles; 6/26 Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay, CA; 8/6 Infinity Hall, Norfolk, CT; 8/13 Louis Armstrong Home & Museum, Corona, Queens, NY; 9/3 Grand Hotel, Mackinaw Island, MI (JM Duo).
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Jane Monheit "Something's Gotta Give":
At Birdland with special guest Nicholas Payton
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Photo of Jane Monheit: Bill Westmoreland
Web Site: janemonheitonline.com