JANE MONHEIT
Never Never Land
N-Coded Music
DIANNE DONOVAN
A Musing
Independent
·Edmonton singer Dianne Donovan compares well with New York's next big thing, singer Jane Monheit.
Jane Monheit comes with some powerful credentials. She was runner-up in the 1998 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition. She toured with Monk's son T.S, and on her first album, she plays with jazz greats Kenny Barron and Ron Carter. And last week's New Yorker has a lengthy listing about her gig at the venerable Algonquin Hotel – heady stuff!
But, where Diana Krall is sultry and laid-back, and where Cassandra Wilson has an offbeat approach, Monheit lacks distinction. Outside of her version of "My Foolish Heart" (done bossa nova with great montuno piano by Barron, alto sax by Hank Crawford and flute by David "Fathead" Newman), I just can't get excited about Never Never Land.
Monheit has a lovely soprano voice with good energy, and nice use of vibrato that generally sticks to the melody. There is very little scatting here, which speaks in her favour, because outside of Ella Fitzgerald and Sheila Jordan, a good scat singer is rare. Ballads are Monheit's forte – love songs – and I guess that is part of her problem. The sentiments expressed in Sammy Cahn's "Please Be Kind," Edward Elisco's "More Than You Know," and Raymond B. Evens and Jay Livingston's "Never Let Me Go" are maudlin and mawkish. The choice of "Twisted" is questionable because even though it is good to hear a blues song in the mix, this one has been overdone.
A Musing is the second album from Edmonton singer Dianne Donovan, and it is a fine effort. She is a more experienced singer than Monheit, and her CD stands up well by comparison. Unlike Monheit, Donovan writes some of her own material – seven of the 10 songs are her own or co-written with pianist Andrew Glover.
"Any Ole Day Blues" leads off and is a standout, particularly with the raggedy-loose feel created by drummer Sandro Dominelli. Donovan is undaunted by the challenge of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life," a difficult ballad to pull off, but she does so admirably with her alto voice. Late drummer Tony Williams's "Geo Rose" is my personal favourite, a jazz tune sung in a breathy vocalese by Donovan in unison with Kent Sangster's soprano sax. It has a slinky, sneaky minor key feeling with a beautiful solo by Sangster. The title track is right out of the Stan Getz/Astrid Gilberto mould with guitar accompaniment by Jim Head and Sangster's tenor in matching form.
Donovan's one Alberta artist who matches up well with the latest from the Big Apple.
MONHEIT 3/5
DONOVAN 4/5
JOHN REID
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