The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me

Jane Monheit

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 20, 2009)
• Original Release Date: January 20, 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Concord Records
• ASIN: B001KL3H5S
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #989 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #27 in	Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Traditional Vocal Pop
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Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
The Lovers, The Dreamers And Me, Jane Monheit's eagerly anticipated new CD, is set for release on Concord Records January 20th, 2009. An ode to songwriters past and present whom Monheit greatly admires, The Lovers, The Dreamers And Me is a sumptuously sung passionate song cycle of 13 tracks produced by jazz veteran Matt Pierson. The Lovers, The Dreamers And Me is Monheit's ninth CD and will be accompanied by a world tour starting in New York City on release date.

The Lovers, The Dreamers And Me features the songs of contemporary songwriters such as Fiona Apple ("Slow Like Honey"), Corrine Bailey Rae ("Like A Star") and Paul Simon ("I Do It For Your Love"), alongside such jazz and pop classics as Cole Porter's "Get Out Of Town," Jimmy Dorsey's "I'm Glad There Is You," Leonard Bernstein's "Lucky To Be Me," William C. Barnes' "Something Cool" (the June Christy classic) and the Brazilian gem, "No Tomorrow," by Ivan Lins.

"I wanted to do something different with this record," says Monheit, "and so I chose songs that meant a lot to me in many different ways and from a wide range of songwriters and genres - from female artists my age to celebrated legends."

Accompanying Monheit on The Lovers, The Dreamers And Me are long-time Monheit band-members Michael Kanan (piano and Fender Rhodes), Rick Montalbano on drums, and Neal Miner on bass, who were joined on the CD by musicians Peter Bernstein (guitar), Stefon Harris (vibes), Seamus Blake (saxophone), Frank Vignola (guitar), Gil Goldstein (piano, accordion), Romero Lubambo (guitar), Antonio Sanchez (drums), Scott Colley (bass) and Bashiri Johnson on percussion.

Jane Monheit released her debut album, Never Never Land, in 2000 which remained on the Billboard Jazz chart for over a year and was voted Best Debut Recording by the members of the Jazz Journalists Association. Her second release, Come Dream With Me, came just a year later and landed atop the Billboard Jazz charts and also earned a Grammy nomination for Vince Mendoza for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals" (as did 2003's In The Sun for Mendoza's Arrangement of "Since You've Asked"). Monheit's 2007 critically-lauded CD, Surrender, debuted at number one on the Bilboard Jazz chart as well, and she continues to tour and perform in front of sold-out audiences worldwide. Said Time Magazine of Monheit, "Jane Monheit can't miss. She has, in a word, everything."

Product Description
The Lovers, The Dreamers And Me is the new release by the Grammy nominated vocalist Jane Monheit. It was produced by jazz veteran Matt Pierson and features songs by Fiona Apple, Corrine Bailey Rae, Ivan Lins and Paul Simon, as well as classics from the Great American Songbook

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but not too surprising., April 7, 2009

By	unplug and listen - See all my reviews

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".
Radio Show

33 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tribute to Songwriters? Huh..., January 29, 2009

By	Christopher Enzi (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

On this interminable disc, Jane Monheit- who has quite a lovely voice- rewrites (flubs?) the lyrics of Fran Landesman's "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" twice, each time destroying the rhyming structure and rendering the meaning less powerful. This is no tribute- unless you mean in the tax or royalty sense of paying to use the songs. Also, almost all the songs sound the same. I felt I was at a solo accordion concert. Some closer attention to detail, some variation, some nuance would all be appreciated. Except for the lyrical misreadings, this is all as bland as wallpaper paste. A disappointment.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A VERY disappointed fan, February 24, 2009

By	The Wayne-ster (London, UK) - See all my reviews

A big fan of Jane Monheit's, I own all her discs and concerts and have seen her perform live -- twice. In our modern day music world of synthesizers and sloppy vocals, Jane normally shines as a superb technician, a fluid-yet-precise improvisor, and a versatile songstress.

Not so in The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me! All 13 tracks are bland, unmemorable, pop-like, indistinctive interpretations. Throughout the disc, Jane's singing is slightly off -- even noticeably flat on several occasions! (Check out 4 minutes 20 seconds into Slow Like Honey; 34 seconds and 3m28s into This Girl's in Love with You; 43s into Ain't Gonna Let You Break..; and 40s into Rainbow Connection.) Jane is normally flawless. What has happened in this recording?

As other reviewers have commented, the tempo of most of these tunes is a bit slow. Jane misses opportunities in This Girl's in Love and other pieces to let it loose. Instrumentation -- normally fully in-synch with her beautiful voice -- is also dull. Where's the sax? Where's the bass? Where's the jazz piano?

In short, if you're new to Jane Monheit, don't waste your money on this one. It will ruin your opinion of someone who, in my opinion, is one of the greatest female vocalists (not only of jazz) of our time. Listen instead to My Foolish Heart, Over the Rainbow, Moon River, Love Has No Pride, Waters of March, They Can't Take That Away from Me, and Comecar de Novo. If they don't blow you away, nothing of hers will.