Jane Monheit followed her 2004 Sony debut, Taking a Chance on Love, with the Christmas album The Season.
It's an inevitable release.
Monheit's star has risen consistently -- she's one of the darlings (or saviors) of contemporary vocal jazz alongside artists like Madeleine Peyroux and Norah Jones -- so something as pretty and easily salable as The Season ensures even more name recognition.
Which is just fine.
Monheit's rich, if mannered delivery is perfect for the classics ("Sleighride," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"), and her interpretations of "I Love the Winter Weather/I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" (where Ella Fitzgerald's influence is strong) and the Carpenters ("Merry Christmas Darling") mix striking professionalism with a gentle, breathy swagger that's pretty endearing.
Monheit worked with her usual quartet for The Season, though the arrangement for "Merry Christmas Darling" is filled out with a string section and the horns on "The Man with the Bag" combine with Monheit's winsome, scatting vocal to really take it out of time.
Is this 2005 or a classic Perry Como special? The Season is a nice holdover for Monheit, a chance to have some fun with some standards while keeping her name and wonderful voice top of mind.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | This ChristmasDonny Hathaway, Nadine McKinnor | Jane Monheit | Play | 03:50 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 2 | Merry Christmas DarlingRichard Carpenter, Frank Pooler | Jane Monheit | Play | 04:35 | 10 MB | 25 MB |
| 3 | The Man with the BagDudley Brooks, Hal Stanley, Irving Taylor | Jane Monheit | Play | 02:02 | 4 MB | 13 MB |
| 4 | Moonlight in VermontJohn Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf | Jane Monheit | Play | 05:01 | 11 MB | 26 MB |
| 5 | SleighrideLeroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish | Jane Monheit | Play | 02:47 | 6 MB | 16 MB |
| 6 | Have Yourself a Merry Little ChristmasRalph Blane, Hugh Martin | Jane Monheit | Play | 05:58 | 13 MB | 30 MB |
| 7 | The Christmas WaltzSammy Cahn, Jule Styne | Jane Monheit | Play | 02:51 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 8 | I Heard the Bells on Christmas DayJohnny Marks | Jane Monheit | Play | 02:43 | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| 9 | Santa Claus Is Coming to TownJ. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie | Jane Monheit | Play | 02:51 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 10 | My Grown Up Christmas ListLinda Jenner | Jane Monheit | Play | 05:02 | 11 MB | 24 MB |
| 11 | Medley | Jane Monheit | Play | 03:39 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 41 mins | 94 MB | |||||
| 41 mins | 232 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leroy Anderson | Composer |
| 2 | Susan Bank | Management |
| 3 | Elena Barere | Concert Master |
| 4 | Adrian Benjamin | Viola |
| 5 | Irving Berlin | Composer |
| 6 | John Blackburn | Composer |
| 7 | Ralph Blane | Composer |
| 8 | Dudley Brooks | Composer |
| 9 | Arvil Brown | Violin |
| 10 | Avril Brown | Violin |
| 11 | Sammy Cahn | Composer |
| 12 | Richard Carpenter | Composer |
| 13 | J. Fred Coots | Composer |
| 14 | Jill Dell'Abate | Contractor, Production Coordination |
| 15 | Peter Doris | Digital Editing, Editing |
| 16 | Orlando Le Fleming | Bass |
| 17 | Katherine Fong | Violin |
| 18 | Cecilia Hobbs Gardner | Violin |
| 19 | Steve Genewick | Digital Editing, Mixing Assistant |
| 20 | Haven Gillespie | Composer |
| 21 | Donny Hathaway | Composer |
| 22 | Jean Ingraham | Violin |
| 23 | Linda Jenner | Composer |
| 24 | Birch Johnson | Trombone |
| 25 | Tony Kadleck | Flugelhorn, Trumpet |
| 26 | Michael Kanan | Arranger, Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, Piano |
| 27 | Ann Leathers | Violin |
| 28 | Jeanne LeBlanc | Celli |
| 29 | Sheri G. Lee | Art Direction |
| 30 | Vince Lionti | Viola |
| 31 | Richard Locker | Celli |
| 32 | Dave Mann | Sax (Alto) |
| 33 | Johnny Marks | Composer |
| 34 | Hugh Martin | Composer |
| 35 | Maria P. Marulanda | Art Direction, Design |
| 36 | Laura McGinnis | Violin |
| 37 | Nadine McKinnor | Composer |
| 38 | Jane Monheit | Liner Notes, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocal Arrangement, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 39 | Rick Montalbano | Arranger, Drums, Pandeiro |
| 40 | Rob Mounsey | Arranger, Conductor, String Arrangements, String Conductor |
| 41 | Jan Mullen | Violin |
| 42 | Craig Mumm | Viola |
| 43 | Miles Okazaki | Arranger, Guitar |
| 44 | Mitchell Parish | Composer |
| 45 | Frank Pooler | Composer |
| 46 | Maxine Roach | Viola |
| 47 | Roger Rosenberg | Sax (Baritone) |
| 48 | Peter Rudge | Management |
| 49 | Doug Sax | Mastering |
| 50 | Al Schmitt | Audio Production, Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 51 | Steven Sebring | Photography |
| 52 | Andy Snitzer | Sax (Tenor), Soloist |
| 53 | Lew Soloff | Flugelhorn, Trumpet |
| 54 | Hal Stanley | Composer |
| 55 | Jule Styne | Composer |
| 56 | Karl Suessdorf | Composer |
| 57 | Irving Taylor | Composer |
| 58 | Mike Taylor | A&R |
| 59 | Yuri Vodovoz | Violin |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |