Jane Monheit / The Old Mill / Toronto Canada

In what may be the best vocal performance this writer has ever experienced, Jane Monheit was both breathtaking and spectacular as her audience fell in love with her, during her concert at The Old Mill in Toronto, Canada. This was not only a great concert, by a superb singer, whose phrasing is powerfully emotive; it was also a lesson for any young artists who may have been in the audience on November 11^th. how to create memorable moments for your fans and how to own the stage, It seems somehow fitting one, who some would consider to be the best female Jazz vocalist today, should appear on stage at Canada’s most venerable Jazz venue, owned by Michael Kalmar.

Jane Monheit does not merely sing, she instead caresses each phrase tenderly and when a song calls for romance, she exchanges loving glances with her drummer and husband Rick Montalbano or she coos gently while her fingers lightly brush her microphone stand. Just as easily Jane Monheit can make your heart dance, as she did while singing the Arthur Schwartz / Howard Dietz song “A Shine On Your Shoes,” which introduces her new album Home.  Just barely past her thirty-third birthday, Ms. Monheit is in many ways an old soul, when it comes to turning a phrase and she evokes a powerful response from the listener, as she did with her closing song “Over The Rainbow,” making you forget that this is not the first time that you have heard this classic Harold Arlen / E.Y. Harburg composition. Her emotional investment is so immense that she brushed back tears from her eyes and her vocals were so breathtaking and moving that many of her fans were doing the same.

Perhaps more than any Jazz vocalist within my memory, Jane Monheit gives so much room to her musicians, which also included upright bass player Neil Miner and pianist Michael Kanan.  It is seldom that one refers to a drummer as being elegant and yet Rick Montalbano’s playing is so subtle during the gentler songs this is the most appropriate word that comes to mind, and the playing of Michael Kanan is the perfect compliment to Ms. Monheit’s vocals, as is the emotive accompaniment of Neil Miner.

On this evening, Jane Monheit was dressed in a black sequin sleeveless top, black knee length skirt, black heels and her dark brown hair cascaded over her shoulders. She often flashed her beautiful smile as she sang familiar standards such as, Jerome Kern and B.G. Desylva’s “Look For The Silver Lining,” or Irving Berlin’s up-tempo “Cheek To Cheek,” first made famous by Fred Astaire in the movie Top Hat.

Not surprisingly, Ms. Monheit mentioned that she discovered some of her songs were being performed at weddings or played as the first dance songs at the wedding reception and with that in mind she recorded “This Is Always,” the third song on her new album and the look on her face and in her eyes let you know that she was very much “in the moment,” and at one point she cooed as she leaned back against the piano where Mr. Kanan was playing exquisitely.   Think of the best Jazz singers from yesteryear and that is the vintage feel that Jane Monheit brings to her music and yet, her performance bears her own signature, because you see she is already a legend in the making. Jane Monheit is not a trend. She is not today’s flavor to be quickly replaced, she has now been with us for several years and she is setting the standard for future Jazz vocalists for years, if not decades to come. Yet with all that talent, there is no hint of pretension. There is no suggestion that any sense of ego accompanies her to the stage. What her audience receives is a warm, gracious artist, who may dance to a Jobim Bossa Nova, as she sings in Portuguese and her always expressive eyes twinkle.

Jane Monheit ensures that she gives credit to her musicians and she is quick to point out the arrangements of Michael Kanan and Neil Miner, including the beautiful arrangement of “That’s All,” by Mr. Miner, a song that does not appear on the North American release of her album and appears as a bonus track on the Japanese release of Home. The new arrangement for “The Eagle And Me,” another Harold Arlen / E.Y. Harburg song, was created by her father-in-law Rick Montalbano Sr.

Perhaps it was just this writer’s imagination, but I do not think that I heard anyone breathe, during Jane Monheit spellbinding performance of Johnny Mercer and Henry Manicini’s “Moon River,” and we simply have run out of superlatives to describe this very memorable night spent with an incredible singer.

Riveting Riffs Magazine would like to express our gratitude to Michael Kalmar, Vincent Cotte and Fay Olson of the Old Mill Inn and Spa for making it possible for us to review this concert.