As the sun set over Newport, RI, a cool wind blew in from the ocean. Folks hurried to their seats as WGBH's Ron Della Chisea announced that the 2006 JVC Jazz Festival - Newport was about to begin.
A few minutes later,
Jane Monheit took the stage. The Jazz Festival had officially begun. Ms. Monheit began her set with "That September in the Rain". She was wearing a breezy black dress with a tight bodice and a full skirt. Her style was classic, and looking at her and her band it would have been impossible to tell if she was singing at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956 or 2006.
On the last few bars of her first song, she scatted up and down the scales, evoking another jazz great, Ms. Ella Fitzgerald. Her next choice was the Cole Porter classic, "In the Still of the Night", which was recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1960.
"We're gonna sing some of the stuff I have recorded in the past and some I haven't" Ms. Monheit said as her band started swinging into the second of three Cole Porter songs in a row , Why can't you behave?". Next up was "You're Sensational"
The tones, sweet and clear with little vibrato, filled the night air as she gave thanks to Burt Bacharach for writing the next song she sang, "Alfie". Using clipped rounded off phrasing, Ms. Monheit gave "Alfie" a successful reinterpretation.
Two Brazilian songs, sung in their original Portuguese followed. The band gave the songs a light breezy feel.
During the next song, Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek" each member of the band took a solo. Each of them showed their chops and let the audience know that they, without a doubt, belonged at the Jazz Festival.
Taking advantage of its little-sung full intro, Ms. Monheit closed her set with "Over the Rainbow". I will confess that I usually cringe when artists performs that song. It is one of the few songs that I feel protective about. I feel that it has been sung, better than it will ever be sung ever again. Having said that, I really loved Ms. Monheit's version.
Ms. Monheit's opening of the JVC Jazz Festival Newport set the tone for all of the Festival. It was a great set and the crowds in Newport loved her.
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