Not yet 30, jazz vocalist Jane Monheit, who began singing professionally in high school, has released six albums in seven years, earning acclaim from critics and cultivating a passionate fan base. The New Yorker's latest studio effort, Surrender, bathes in the luxurious sounds of Brazil's bossa nova. The singer, whose smoky, lilting voice has been compared to Ella Fitzgerald's, will perform a doubleheader with her five-piece backing band at McDavid Studio on Friday.
The bubbly Monheit checked in with the Star-Telegram to discuss her love of Brazilian music and her distaste for some modern pop singers. You've been fascinated with Brazilian sounds for most of your career. Is Surrender a chance to fully embrace them?
Yeah, more or less -- I still tempered it with some other stuff, and I still will probably do a really traditional Brazilian album someday, but it was nice to get more into it. What draws you to that distinctive sound? I've just always loved it.
I can't even explain -- it's just something about the music that's completely intoxicating and I can't get enough of it. Luckily, the guys in my band feel the same way. Like most practitioners of jazz, I'm assuming you're a fan of recording live in the studio.
Yeah, it's important. We're jazz musicians -- we play live. It's what we do.
So we always record live and, of course, I'll always go back later and change things, perfect them, because, I'm, you know, psycho. [laughs] Because when you're there with all the computers and you've got all the time in the world, you can go back in and sing that one line over and over until you've got it the way you want it -- it's hard to resist. So I definitely take advantage of that stuff .
.. but ideally, we do it live.
I like to do as much as possible the old-fashioned way. You're a noted fan of pop music and have sung pop songs on your records. Do you look at the Top 40 and wonder why there seems to be less focus on singing and more on packaging?
There is -- but it depends on what they're giving to the public, who they're claiming to be, you know what I mean? If someone is claiming to be a great vocalist and is all freakin' Pro Tools and autotuning and lip synching when they get up on stage, then I hate it. But if it's someone who's just claiming to be a fierce entertainer and .
.. they're not claiming to be any great vocal diva, then I love it.
With two sets planned at McDavid Studio, what can people expect? It's different everywhere we go. It depends on whether it's the same audience for both sets or if the audience changes over, I'll do a lot of the same material, 'cause there are songs that people want to hear.
If it's the same audience, then I'll do some different stuff. It all depends kind of [on] how I feel that day, too. Jane Monheit 7 and 9:30 p.
m. Friday McDavid Studio, Fort Worth $45 817-212-4280; www.basshall.
com Preston Jones is the Star-Telegram pop music critic, 817-390-7713 pjones@star-telegram.
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