Cruising at the Carlyle
Jane Monheit pledged her allegiance to Brazilian music one number into her opening-night set at Manhattan's tony Café Carlyle, where she'll appear through the end of the month. Tonight, she said, would be all about bossa nova ("my favorite stuff to sing"), except when it wasn't. As it turned out, when it wasn't was when she shone.
The Brazilian portion of the 29-year-old former Long Islander's set included Sergio Mendez's "So Many Stars" and two songs by bossa-nova icon Antonio Carlos Jobim, "So Tinha de Ser Com Voce" and "Caminhos Cruzados," which she sang in Portuguese. Monheit, who obviously invests herself deeply into whatever she sings, sailed smoothly through them with her competent band, barely leaving a wake behind her.
Two other songs, however, were a completely different story. Her version of Burt Bacharach's "Alfie" was a roller coaster of often conflicting and contradictory emotions. Monheit take pleasure in exploring the edges of a phrase rather than its center, and she grew increasingly wistful as the song faded into soft sad silence. The evening's other highlight was Henry Mancini's "Moon River," which sounds better every time I hear it. Monheit tested the limits of this many-layered masterpiece with some wordless vocalese that moved quickly from near-operatic to conversational.
Monheit focused on bossas and ballads from her upcoming seventh album, Surrender, out in May. And although she's hardly a pure jazz singer, Monheit teased out the harmonic adventure of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed." And while her versions of Annie Ross's "Crazy" and Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis's Webster's "A Time for Love," which closed the show, were terrific songs that broke no new ground that was enough in this warm room on a cold, cold night.
Comments
Joe Skunca says:
Hey, Richard Gehr! You have been my favorite music and all around writer for so many years- I haven't seen you in the Voice and Spin in a while- you turned me on to John Crowley and alot of other things- I'm glad to find your writings again- Did you go to any of the Lesh shows? Brilliant-I was at the Hammerstein 2/19- killin! and PNC with Greg Osby- fantastic! I read alot of music critics and have always read Robert Christgau- I often vehemently disagree with- though the guy is cleearly brilliant- it seems that you two were/are friends- You seem like a much nicer person actually and I vastly prefer your tastes and writing- am much more aligned with them- Anyway, have you seen Piero Scaruffi's website? If you haven't I think you would find it very interesting- though Robert Wyatt- No.2???- and He hates the Beatles??? otherwise one of the most prolific and extensive lists I have ever read- some good recommendations-
Thank you for your writings and all your great recommendations over the years- What Bill Laswell Album do you most recommend?- Not remixes-
Joe Skunca- Ramsey NJ
03/09/07 10:46 PM
Joe Skunca says:
Sorry- my comment is totally unrelated to the post-
03/09/07 10:58 PM
Richard says:
Thanks for the kind words, Joe. And your post is indeed relevant to my Ratdog review up the page a couple of posts. Missed the Hammerstein shows, but the Jones Beach Lesh thing I saw felt a little stiff; every time the band seemed to enter an interesting improv zone, I'd see Phil bark something into the monitors mike and it would come to a screeching halt. I'll check out the Scaruffi site. I like Robert Wyatt, too. But he's no George Harrison. And my favorite Bill Laswell album might still be 1982's "Basslines."
03/12/07 01:35 PM