Jane Monheit "The Songbook Sessions: The Music of Ella Fitzgerald"

Jane Monheit has been a leading light and a wonderful role model since emerging as a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute’s 1998 vocal competition. In addition to her own recordings, she has worked alongside many illustrious artists who have easily recognized her talent and commitment to hard work.

Jane’s most recent recording, The Heart Of The Matter, is a work deeply informed by Jane Monheit’s life— as a woman, wife, and mother in the second decade of a remarkable career— and it reaches emotional levels she attributes to an “extreme comfort zone” in the recording studio. “I think I’ve finally reached my level of onstage / live interpretation as well as in the studio.”

Jane is a brave performer who follows her heart. She currently is building a show and a recording of the music of one of the grand stars of Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald. The show is entitled Jane Monheit Sings Ella Fitzgerald—The Songbook Sessions. She speaks of Ella with reverence and says: “When I was growing up, listening to music and singing along with records was the greatest joy of my life. Above all, beyond any other artist, I loved and revered Ella.”

“When you’re playing music you love with people you love, it always makes for the best music.”