Jane Monheit

     Since I enjoyed listening to Jane Monheit in class, I figured I listen to more of her music on my own. "Honeysuckle Rose" starts out with a solo introduction with a succession of pizzicatos. Jane's comes in not too long into the bass solo. Her voice has depth and is not afraid to project her emotions out loud. She sounds confident and she has complete control of her craft without any fear. The piano background comes in with a light percussion beat. There is a lot of chromaticism which adds flavor and color to the piece. It sounds she could improvise the entire piece. 

    The nature of the song is swing jazz. The strong rhythm section of the double bass immediately gave away of the swing characteristic. The general tempo was medium to fast. Again, another strong characteristic is the strong emphasis on the off-beat. The featured soloist, Jane, improvises the melody over the arrangement. There is such a strong rhythmic drive to the music, which strongly moves in a forward direction.

   The ensemble sounded very simple! I was hoping to hear saxophone, trombone, or clarinet, but all I heard was light piano and percussion background, strong double bass and the singer. I do admire the simplicity because all of the musicians seem receive their own special recognition of their playing. There is so much passion from the soloist and the bass player and their enthusiasm and energy really does overflow to their audiences.  

  

     The format of the piece sounds like an AABA format. Personally, I thought the sections of the song was a bit too repetitive. I wish there were more "B"-like sections because the repetitive ideas were short and redundant.