It went fast for vocalist Jane Monheit ever since she took part in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Competition in 1998. Even though she had to bow her head to the seasoned Teri Thornton who won, Monheit did not go unnoticed as first runner-up. Better yet: the American press adopted her. 'A jazz star that is rising slowly', American jazz magazine Down Beat commented on the newest darling of jazz. The facts in a row: a number one hit-position for weeks in the Billboard jazz charts, performing with cracks like pianist Kenny Barron, bass player Christian McBride and saxophone player Michael Brecker, a long tour of all festivals and jazz stages and praising reactions of fellow musicians. Not bad for a 24-year old jazz vocalist. Her second album, Come Dream With Me contains songs like Waters of March, Blame It On My Youth and Joni Mitchell's A Case Of You. Monheit approaches all her songs as if they were stories, with a simple yet very serious angle. Recording the classic Somewhere Over The Rainbow has always been one of her biggest wishes. “It is one of the first songs I ever learnt and it always stayed with me”, she comments in the Dutch magazine Jazz Nu. “My parents have recordings of me singing the song at very different ages. I'd really want to keep the song for a special occasion. At the same time a lot of people encourage me to sing it and it sounded so good live, that I decided to record it. On the American version of 'Come Dream With Me' there is a bonus track of me singing when I was three years old. Very cute.”
