A Tribute To The Queen

"You can't compare me to to Ella -- I mean she was a goddess. I'm a human! So I think people understand that I'm really just thanking her."

Jazz and popular standards singer Jane Monheit put together her most recent album -- and 12th studio album -- as a tribute to the Queen of Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald. "The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald" is a collection of 12 numbers from the Great American Songbook -- a set of some of the most enduring songs from early- to mid-20th century -- released just in time to celebrate the legend's 100th birthday.

"She's my hero; my biggest influence coming out of the jazz world, certainly," Monheit says of the First Lady of Song. From Fitzgerald, Monheit learned to be as influenced by instrumentalists as she is by other vocalists, as well as to be joyful in her music. "I think there's a misconception that jazz singing has to be 'torchy' and tragic all the time. It doesn't. I think we can sing about happiness just as much as all of the more tragic, romantic aspects of life."

For her performance next week at the Walton Arts Center, Monheit will likely be performing all Fitzgerald favorites -- "but that kind of covers almost every standard ever written." The singer has already been working with her longtime band on a part-two to the tribute -- a new selection of Fitzgerald tunes they may not take to a record, but her audiences will get to experience nonetheless. And in presenting these classics to contemporary audiences, Monheit says it's her intuition and her heart that make it a fresh performance.

"This music's about self-expression. It's really about being yourself -- being your most honest musical self. I think there's always going to be room for that," Monheit says. "People are always going to want to experience truth coming from an artist, and jazz is all about that. If I'm going to sing a standard that's been recorded a thousand times, it's the honesty that makes it matter."

-- JOCELYN MURPHY

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NAN What's Up on 06/16/2017