Jazz Blue Notes

WHILE THERE HAVE BEEN many good—and possibly great—jazz projects released this year, many in the jazz community are bemoaning that few albums have garnered sufficient excitement to draw consumers into stores and prompt them to make a purchase.

This may change May 22, when N-Coded Music releases Come Dream With Me, the sophomore date from vocalist Jane Monheit. The first runner-up in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Institute's vocal competition (at the age of 20), Monheit released her recording debut, Never Never Land, in May 2000. Courtesy of a comprehensive marketing plan that included promotional clips on airline in-flight entertainment and staggered tour dates, the singer has consistently remained in the eye of the general public, while drawing admiration from jazz purists for her torch-song delivery and mature phrasing.

Like its predecessor, Come Dream With Me finds Monheit navigating a set composed primarily of standards and doing it with undeniable confidence. "The difference between my first album and this one is the growth in my vocal maturity," Monheit offers. "On the first record, I was not accustomed to the experience of recording in the studio. This time, I knew how I wanted the songs to sound, so this was much more of a creative experience for me."

The project opens with "Over the Rainbow," a song often associated with Ella Fitzgerald, the singer Monheit to which draws frequent comparison. "It is the first song I ever learned to sing, so it is very special to me," says Monheit, who includes the extra verse that Fitzgerald sang on her own Harold Arlen Songbook (Verve, 1960) but that was excluded from Judy Garland's version in The Wizard of Oz.

Opening with an a cappella introduction that yields to Kenny Barron's gentle piano chords, Monheit's "Over the Rainbow" was "the first and only take we did," according to the singer. "Everyone in the control room was holding their breath, because it was either going to be this take or nothing."

Also appearing on the album are bassist Christian McBride, drummer Gregory Hutchinson, and guest soloists Tom Harrell and Michael Brecker, strategically placing the young singer in the company of seasoned jazz improvisers. Bassist/guitarist Richard Bona joins Monheit for a gentle take on Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You."

Suzy Menase, owner of the Washington, D.C., retailer Melody Record shop, says that "there is a big buzz" on Come Dream With Me, with "a lot of people calling to ask when it will arrive in the store." Menase notes that Monheit's debut is "still selling quite well," often to "people who are not our regular jazz customers but who hear the record when we play it in-store and want to know what it is. When we play Jane Monheit on a busy day, it attracts attention."

AND: Spyro Gyra, led by founding member and saxophonist Jay Beckenstein, commemorates its 25th year with In Modern Times, due May 22 from the Heads Up International label.