 Sultry Jazz Vocalist
Jane Monheit takes time
out from
touring to speak with Luxury Experience
about
her latest 12-track album, Home, released on the Concord Records
label.
Aptly named Home, the jazz standard album has a
comfortable,
cozy, feel to it, like sharing an evening with a dear friend.
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LE
|
 Jane, thank you for taking
time to speak with Luxury Experience about your latest album, entitled
"Home."
What was your inspiration
for Home, featuring such memorable jazz standards as A Shine On Your Shoes (Howard
Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, 1932); There's
A Small Hotel (Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, 1936); This is Always (Mack Gordon and
Harry Warren, 1946); Tonight You
Belong to Me (Billy Rose and Lee David, 1926); Look For The Silver Lining (Jerome
Kern and B.G. DeSylva, 1919); I'll
Be Around (Alec Wilder, 1942); Everything
I've Got Belongs To You (Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, 1942); The Eagle and Me (Harold Arlen and
E.Y. Harburg, 1944); I Didn't Know
About You/All Too Soon (Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington,
Bob Russell, 1944), Isn't It A
Lovely Day (Irving Berlin, 1935 for the Fred Astaire film, Top Hat); While We Were Young (Alec Wilder,
William Engvick, Morty Palitz, 1943); and the only non-standard, It's Only Smoke (Larry Goldings
and Cliff Goldmacher)?
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JANE
|
After making nine "fancy
schmancy" records, which were great, with big string orchestras, I wanted to
do something different and make a more realistic album with just my band.
Since we cannot produce that big orchestra sound during live performances at
every gig, I wanted to do something more reflective of what we do, and who we
are. Not every album has to be a fantasy album; Home is the
real thing, it is about the people I work with well, my own band and a few
other people that I have known for a long time.
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|
LE
|
Your talented band includes
Michael Kanan on piano, Neal Miner on bass, and your husband, Rick
Montalbano on drums. How is it working with your husband?
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JANE
|
Everyone always wants me to
say that it is hard, but we love working together. It is great because we do
work and travel together. Even our 2-year old son, Jack, travels with us when
we go on the road.
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|
LE
|
You grew up on Long Island and now live in Upstate New York. For a couple
that frequently plays in New York
City, as well as internationally, what made you
select to live Upstate New York?
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JANE
|
What attracted us is that
my husband Rick's family lives in Upstate New York. We live in a great house
on a lake, and keep an apartment in New York City. We wanted to raise Jack with
the best of worlds, freedom, as well as culture.
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|
LE
|
You sing, play the piano,
and the trumpet, and Rick plays the drums, do you perhaps have another future
musician in your house?
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JANE
|
Jack does have his own drum
set, and we play music together every day, so who knows.
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LE
|
Jane, you have been singing
since you were a child. At what age did you know that you wanted to be a
professional singer?
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JANE
|
Honestly, I have no idea,
as I cannot remember a time when I did not want to be a singer. I have always
been a singer; it has defined me my entire life. All of my friends know me as
a singer.
Singing is highly personal,
you leave a part of yourself each time you perform, and give of yourself. I
want music to help people process emotions, to lose the numbness of
everything. I love to make audiences laugh and cry, and feel that a good show
has that catharsis of both.
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|
LE
|
You have been on
television, and you have sung on movie soundtracks, what is next?
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JANE
|
For now, performing and
going on tour to promote my album. Someday, I would love to do musical
theatre, and be in a Broadway revival of Carousel and play
Cousin Nettie.
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|
LE
|
Congratulations on your new
album, Home. Thank you for taking time out of your
schedule to chat with Luxury Experience, and good luck on your European and United States
tour.
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Read the album review of Jane
Monheit - Home in the Music Scene section.
Websites where you can
procure Jane Monheit - Home: www.ConcordMusicGroup.com, www.Amazon.com,
www.BarnesandNoble.com,
www.CDUniverse.com,
and www.BestBuy.com.
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