Search - Jane Monheit :: Jane Monheit: The Season

Get The Season Now--but on CD!

Dr. Christopher Coleman | HONG KONG | 12/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I dunno, I think if you're overly concerned about the cover photography and the other paraphenalia, you might just be missing what's most important about the recording, the music. And criticizing jazz singers for ornamenting the melody by adding melismas is quite simply ridiculous. I'm in full sympathy with those consumers frustrated by their inability to play the disc--get the regular CD, you don't need the extras. The music is enough!



Jane Monheit's The Season is quite simply the best Christmas CD I've heard in a long, long time. I have to admit that i'm not overly fond of the opening song, This Christmas--it's just a generic jazz arrangement with nothing special. But with the opening notes of Merry Christmas Darling the CD really picks up. Monheit has amazing timbral control of her voice, you can hear the smile in her voice, and the longing. The Man With the Bag gets a terrific arrangement and Monheit shows her rhythmic flexibility. Moonlight in Vermont follows--I suppose this is why the CD is called "The Season" instead of "The Christmas Season"--it's one of Monheit's quiet ballads, with some wonderfully subtle guitar work by Miles Okazaki. Next, Leroy Anderson's Sleighride gets one of its best interpretations ever, uptempo and jazzy and smart--a real gift for this overplayed warhorse. Another standard, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas gets another extraordinary performance--Monheit sings the introduction without any accompaniment, and the whole is incredibly touching. It's done at a quite slow tempo which lets Monheit use her timbral control to great effect--she really means the words she's singing. A medley of I Love the Winter Weather and I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm follows, making a great contrast with the previous song. The Christmas Waltz has some nice guitar and vibes work--again the contrasts between the arrangements and songs shows real musicianship. Speaking of contrasts, the highlight of the disc is I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day in a simple duet between Monheit and guitarist Okazaki--it's timely and touching, and nothing on Diana Krall's Christmas CD comes close to the emotional power of this performance. It's worth the purchase price of the CD for this 3 minute song alone. Santa Claus is Coming to Town gets a somewhat uptempo jazzy arrangement, with some very fun scat singing and melodic elaborations by Monheit. The CD closes with a song I'm not familiar with, My Grown Up Christmas List--again, it's so touching and emotionally gripping. This is a wonderful CD, a must-have for your collection. I'd recommend it even if you never celebrate Christmas--it's simply great music."

Love the music, dislike the dual disc

C. M. Geary | Kalamazoo, MI United States | 12/23/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I really enjoyed the music, once I resigned myself to playing it on my DVD player when the CD would not play for me. I was disappointed the CD would not play. If I had known there would be a problem, I would have just ordered the regular CD.



Jane Monheit has some classic Christmas tunes, as well as some lesser-known ones, such as "The Man With the Bag" which I thoroughly enjoy. I don't find the melisma as bothersome as some other reviewers do. It doesn't seem distracting and allows her to make the songs her own.



Just for fun, I checked out the "live" performances and was unimpressed. With so many music videos that have high production value, her videos feel gimmicky at best and simply cannot compete. In addition, her lip-syncing seems amateurish. I cannot recommend this feature at all, thus my two star rating on this item. My advice: by the regular CD.



I plan to send this dual disc back, if Amazon will accept it, and get the regular CD. That way I can listen to it in my car and have the ability to put in on shuffle with some of my other favorite holiday tunes, which is why I bought it in the first place. I'm sure her CD will become one of my family's holiday staples."

Nice Addition For The Season

musicman | New York,NY | 11/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The dual disc does not contain malware. The cd is great. It is not fair for reviewers to unload on the performer, when the recording company is at fault. It is a good thing that many of the reviewers that do such a thing are not members of our justice system"