Jane Monheit - Season (CD)

All Music Guide

Jane Monheit follows her 2004 Sony debut Taking a Chance on Love with the Christmas album Season. It's an inevitable release. Monheit's star has risen consistently she's one of the darlings (or saviors) of contemporary jazz vocal alongside artists like Madeline Peyroux and Norah Jones, so something as pretty and easily saleable as Seasons 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 Seasons, though the arrangement for "Merry Christmas Darling" is filled out with a string section and the horns on "Man With a Bag" combine with Monheit's winsome, scatting vocal to really take it out of time. Is this 2005 or a classic Perry Como special? Seasons 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.

- Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide