The charming star is in danger of losing her jazz fan base as it's quite a different animal to her previous releases. After dishing up syrupy strings and florid bossa novas on her last album, the vocalist Monheit revisits jazz on this new CD, which features an eclectic mix of contemporary and vintage songs. Corinne Bailey Rae, Paul Simon and Fiona Apple's work sits alongside Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein. Not to forget Kermit the Frog's "Rainbow Connection".
She says she sang in "millions of rock bands" in high school and college, and she's expressed a taste for Nine Inch Nails ("I used to be totally goth in high school for about five minutes"), and these days says she's "a little obsessed" with Björk's "Vespertine".
"Her way of expressing herself is completely unique and original". And yet, "I always knew I wanted to be a jazz singer. It's sort of what's closest to my heart. If it were a perfect world, I could just mix genres all day long and never categorize myself, but, you know, because of the way things are, you have to focus on just one thing. So obviously, jazz was the answer for me, without even thinking about it".
Jane has a gorgeous, pure, sophisticated voice which lends itself to everything from swinging jazz numbers to big, Barbra Streisand-like ballads and bluesy-pop torch songs - but did she have to do them all on one album?
As said before, she adds songs by Fiona Apple and Corinne Bailey Rae to her repertoire of jazz standards.
"The trouble is that every song sounds as if it was conceived for a supper club in 1955. OK for nostalgics, but anyone with a nodding acquaintance with the 21st century may feel left out".- Timesonline.
Monheit's cloyingly perfect voice and flowery style are undoubtedly in the love-'em-or-loathe-'em category and, with a couple of exceptions, there's little here for jazz fans.
My favourite tracks: "Like A Star", "A Primera Vez" and "Ranbow Connection".
