Friday, 2 December 2022

Jane Monheit - The Merriest


23 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Stream The Merriest here (Spotify)

Sometimes you want to let the worries of the outside world slip away and immerse yourself into something sumptuous and soothing - this year, that something is Jane Monheit's The Merriest; a holiday album which is the musical equivalent to a warm mug of your favourite hot cocoa while sitting next to a crackling log fire with your favourite people around you. It is almost twenty years since Jane gifted us with Christmas music on her 2005 album, The Season - the real gift this season is unwrapping the delectable arrangements she has swathed her gorgeous singing in to soundtrack this year's most elegant and ornate Christmas parties...

The album opens with a charming Let It Snow! where piano recreates the wintry weather with playful ease & Jane drenches her performance with a delightful flirtatious romantic vibe. An extended middle 8 extends the warmth in listening while the north wind blusters and blows. The Christmas Song continues the enchantment with such a sophisticated arrangement that you can't help but lose yourself in the familiarity - but also the nuance of Jane adding her own little flourish. It gives you That Holiday Feeling, which handily is the next song with John Pizzarelli along for the ride. Together they conjure up nostalgic memories of your favourite Yuletides of yore - with just a glimmer of romance in there too.

(Christmas) Stay With Me is the type of Disney-esque end credits ballad that should be on every adult contemporary holiday playlist this year. Extending the happy emotions of the season is something I try and do every year - this song makes it a bit easier. The album's title track, The Merriest, is indeed that. It's like the piano is a kid in a candy store, let loose with unlimited glee and twirling around with zest. Extended instrumental moments make it a duet between dazzling vox and keyboard. It makes the season's most yearning invitation, What Are You Doing New Year's Eve even the more poignant and heartfelt. Sumptuous and slow is definitely the way to get an affirmative RSVP. A study in bending a note to your will.

If this album has taught us anything (and it has), it is that you don't need imagery to paint a picture of a Winter Wonderland. Individual notes coalesce to craft tangible musical scenes and, with the vivid brush strokes of her expressive voice, Jane adds colour, sounds and smells to the living art. Next, Jane covers the achingly heavenly Christmas Time Is Here. It has always been a study in juxtaposition - lyrics as intricately beautiful as a snowflake, music that is just the right side of melancholy. The finale then arrives with It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. Jane doesn't need to belt the notes out for maximum impact - she infuses them with just the right amount of feeling. It is an intimate carol concert of a finale, a lasting holiday wish to give you sweet dreams before the big day.

**Ghosts of Christmas Past**
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