Music Review: Jane Monheit – Surrender

Have I mentioned lately that I love libraries? I dropped in to one with my family this weekend and came away with a bunch of CDs to listen to. Some of them are completely unfamiliar to me. At least one of them is a hit: Jane Monheit’s “Surrender”.

Jazz is such a broad category you never really know what you’ll get when you pick something up at random. It could end up being obnoxious, atonal stuff that drives me batty, or it could be more like Rock-n-Roll, or more like New Age. In this case it’s vocal jazz ballads along the lines of Diane Krall, Ella Fitzgerald, or Michael Buble.

Monheit’s got a pleasant, very listenable voice. There’s no distinctive quality to it, necessarily, but she also feels no reason to show off, either. She embellishes, of course, but never to the point that it calls attention to itself. It’s just a solid, clear, sweet voice that doesn’t demand attention, but also doesn’t grate or wear. She’s perfect for either listening to intently or using as background music. If you want to listen closely she will show off an impressive depth and understanding of what she’s singing about, and the vocal control to convey that feeling without resorting to the usual pop tricks. To her, words matter. On top of that she never loses sight of the importance of melody–every song remains recognizable from beginning to end.

How do I describe it? I don’t know if all her albums are this style, but this one is soft, tender, light, and intimate, wrapped in a warm, twilit glow of orchestration. It’s as if she is singing to you alone, and she loves the song she’s singing as much as she loves you. She can sing Portuguese to me all she wants (which is maybe three songs). I have it on good authority her pronunciation is flawless.

I only recognize one song on the album, a very touching and lyrical “Moon River” thay may become my favorite cover yet. She’s evidently done at least one album that tackles a number of chestnuts from the American Songbook. I find myself eager to find that one so I can see what she does with them. Monheit is one of those singers who understands that often less is more, spinning out an effortless sound that makes it easy to forget just how much effort, discipline and control goes into singing that way. Perfect inflection, crisp diction, dulcet tones, and meaningful phrasing do not come easy–not all together, anyway. But Monheit’s got it.

Anyone can scream their songs to convey emotion. It takes talent to sing seductively. The truly gifted can endow a song with a life of its own. Monheit might just be the latter.