Live at the Rainbow Room [Import]

1. Over The Rainbow

2. Just Squeeze Me

3. Chega De Saudade (No More Blues)

4. Dindi

5. More Than You Know

6. Since You've Asked

7. It Might As Well Be Spring

8. Tea For Two

9. Hit The Road To Dreamland

10. Comecar De Novo

11. It Never Entered My Mind

12. Turn Out The Stars

13. Haunted Heart

14. Cheek To Cheek

15. Waters Of March

16. Some Other Time

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Recorded Live at the Rainbow Room in New York in 2003. "Just Squeeze Me", "More Than You Know", "Tear for To" And"it Never Entered My Mind".

Tracks:

Over The Rainbow
Just Squeeze Me
Chega De Saudade (No More Blues)
Dindi
More Than You Know
Since You've Asked
It Might As Well Be Spring
Tea For Two
Hit The Road to Dreamland
Comecar De Novo
It Never Entered My Mind
Turn Out The Stars
Haunted Heart
Cheek To Cheek
Waters Of March
Some Other Time

Customer Reviews:

Thank you Jonathan Schwartz.......2007-01-14

This is another unbelieveable talent that I was introduced to through Jonathan Schwartz's show on WNYC. The recording quality of this live album almost defies belief. Additionally, the song selections are nearly perfect for a forum such as the Rainbow Room in NYC. What a wonderful album just to sit back and enjoy with your eyes closed and a nice tumbler of Scotch. I promise, you will love this album. And, if you're already a Jane Monheit fan, may I also recommend another wonderful talent in the same genre, Nancy LaMott.

Good news, bad news.......2006-12-19

Jane Monheit has a lovely voice, reminds me of early Maureen McGovern. That's the good news.

The bad news is everything else. The songs she chose for this live CD are uninteresting and over-performed by practically everyone else. Worse, Monheit and her back-up arrangements have no tempo, no intention, and no gut feelings invested in them. It's the aural equivalent of watching paint dry. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is so stretched out, you could do a load of laundry and your grocery shopping, come back, and she'd still be singing it. Monheit also feels the need to talk between every single number, before she launches into her boring rendition of it.

I asked for this CD for Christmas, based on the 4 1/2 star rating it recieved on Amazon.

Don't believe everthing you read!!!

Goddess.......2006-09-29

This CD is worth it for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Since You've Asked." The orchestrations take you to other worlds, and Jane's interpretations are deeply enthused with feeling. The only problem I have is with the CD graphics. This was recorded when she was still "full figured" (and in my opinion, more in touch with her music) and all of the pictures are stretched, skewed and pixelated. Why? Because we wouldn't buy it if she was bigger than a size 0? Disappointing message being sent with the art choices, but the music more than makes up for it.

Return to Oz, in living color.......2006-07-12

While Kurt Elling virtually owns the field of male jazz singing by default (who else is there?), female jazz divas proliferate at a dizzying rate. As a result, I'm probably the last person with ears (and eyes) to get to the much hyped Ms. Monheit. On the basis of this recording, Jane reveals that she indeed may come closest to possessing the virtuosity and control of an Ann Hampton Calloway--but not so close that she can trust her musical rhetoric alone to force the result. Were the word "live" not in the title, the occasional, distant audience response would hardly be noticed, notwithstanding the artist's curiously disembodied "thank you's." On the other hand, the epithets "everything," "enchanting," "magnificent," "magic" are so numerous on the back cover of the jewel case that one wonders how the texts of the songs themselves will even stand a chance.

This one is a producer's dream, featuring a performer whose spinning vibratos, constantly crescendoing phrasings, hasty deference to the contributions of her musicians bear the stamp of a talented ingenue confident of possessing it all--the program, the repertory, the audience' adoring, unqualified approval. Unfortunately, there's hardly a moment that swings ("Cheek to Cheek" is the lone exeption, albeit overly "arranged"), nor scarcely a musical measure whose intrinsic breath can compete with Monheit's melodramatic sighs on this strangely lush and suffocating, heavily textured session that nearly defies description--sort of quasi-operatic pop with occasional jazz inflections. Maybe Monheit is looking for a chance to team up with Manilow.

Or maybe the problem is the "Rainbow Room," which appears to influence the entire program, starting with "Over the Rainbow"(this is the first time I've heard "Waters of March" sound like "Yellow Brick Road"). Let's hope Jane's next live venture takes her back to Kansas: downstairs at the Village Vanguard with a mere piano trio led by the likes of Mike Renzi or Fred Hersch, and with the presiding muses of Billie, Carmen, Ella, Sarah, and Etta Jones (or, for that matter, Nancy Lamott) to insure that the tradition doesn't get sacrificed to another merely pretty voice, however perfect, magical, and enchanting the smarmy producers choose to describe it.

Jazziest Monheit album.......2005-09-24

The jazzier she gets, the better I like her. The trouble with other Monheit discs like "In the Sun" and even "Taking a Chance" (though there are a few good, jazzy cuts on the latter), is that they seem to have been aimed at a wider (not jazz-oriented) audience. I prefer it when Monheit embellishes. That's exactly what I'm listen for. Consequently "Live at the Rainbow Room" contains my favorite versions of the songs that she has recorded on other albums. This includes "Over the Rainbow." I have heard two other Monheit renditions of it, and this is the best.
Curious that few reviewers think as I do that her rendition of "Tea for Two" is actually sad. Seductive, yes, but also sad. It's as if she's singing about how happy they'll be with their picket fence and 2.5 kids, yet subconsciously there is a dirge in there--she knows it won't turn out as she hope. It's about the melancholy pleasure of expecting happily-ever-after even though it won't ever be.
There are some numbers I like less, but mostly, it's great, and Joel Frahm on sax, Ron Carter on bass and the rest of the featured musicians are excellent. I think its on "Dindi" that Frahm really cuts loose with a great solo. And on the "Waters of March" there is an amazing duet between Monheit and a horn. (At least I think that's what I'm hearing.)