Jane jazzes it up

Jennifer K Mahal

People recognize jazz singer Jane Monheit in the strangest places.

Take the first time the 24-year-old visited Paris.

“I had never played there at all,” said Monheit, who sings this

weekend at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. “Someone came up to

me on the street and recognized me.”

With two albums already on the shelves and a third to start recording

in the spring, Monheit is a rising star in the world of jazz. A list of

top grade talent including Bucky Pizzarelli and Kenny Barron appeared on

her first CD, “Never Never Land.” Brazilian vocalist and composer Ivan

Lins will join in on her new work.

“His compositions have meant so much to me over the years,” Monheit

said, naming Lins as an artist she has dreamed of working with.

Though Bonnie Raitt and Joni Mitchell make her list of favorite

musicians, it is the influences of Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald and

Carmen McRae that you hear in her voice.

Jazz has drawn the Manhattan resident into its web from childhood.

Monheit grew up in a musical family -- her father is a bluegrass

musician, her aunt and grandmother were professional singers -- in Long

Island, N.Y. She started studying jazz in elementary school.

“I’ve been listening to music and studying it since I was a tiny

little thing,” said Monheit, who learned the clarinet along with musical

theory.

At 17, she enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music, where she

studied with Peter Eldridge, founder of New York Voices. Eldridge pushed

her to enter the 1998 Thelonius Monk Vocal Competition, at which she

wowed the judges and won first runner-up. Considering that meant looking

good in front of the likes of the late Joe Williams and Diana Krall, it

was a promising start.

Her experience there helped Monheit catch the attention of manager

Mary Ann Topper, who she credits with helping to cultivate her career.

It’s a career that has already taken her to Carnegie Hall.

“It was just so thrilling. You’ve been in the hall a billion times

over the course of your life and always wanted to sing there, and there

you are,” Monheit said. “It requires constant reality checks -- ‘This is

my dressing room at Carnegie Hall”’

She has also toured the United States, Europe, Japan and is getting

ready to go to Brazil for the first time.

“It really does kind of hit me at times,” Monheit said of her emerging

stardom. “Most of the time everything feels completely normal, and I’m

just going on with life -- here we are at the gig and the airport -- and

every now and then, I realize what I’m doing and how many years I

dreamed and worked for it. It’s kind of amazing to have the dream come

true.”

FYI

* What: Jane Monheit

* When: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. today and Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday

* Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, Founder’s Hall, 600

Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

* Cost: $46 or $39

* Call: (714) 556-2787