NEW ALBUM: From This Moment On is a return to breezy, accessible jazz standards
Tom Harrison
The Province
Sunday, September 24, 2006
CREDIT: Getty Images File Photo
With twins due in December, Diana Krall looks forward to a more blissful time.
Family has come first in Diana Krall's life before but her focus has shifted dramatically.
She and husband Elvis Costello are expecting twins in December, the arrival of which should slow her down at least for a few months.
In the meantime, Krall has just released her 10th album, From This Moment On. The Cole Porter title tune is an indication of an upbeat, uptempo record, its generally sunny outlook reflecting a more blissful time for her. Coming after the death by cancer in 2002 of her mother, Adella, the album is an antidote. Whereas her previous album, The Girl In the Other Room, focused on her first attempt at songwriting and was profound for telling her story, the new one is once again interpretations, for the most part breezy and perhaps more audience-friendly.
When her mother was first diagnosed, Krall became an ardent campaigner for cancer research, and she continues to perform charity concerts in Vancouver, most recently last April with Costello, Tony Bennett, Elton John and Sarah McLachlan in tow. When Adella passed away (soon followed by Ray Brown, a mentor, and Rosemary Clooney, an inspiration) an important chapter closed.
Marriage in 2003, songwriting and the current album started a new one. It was time to get on with other things. The arrival of twins emphasizes that she knew she was ready to make a drastic change.
"I didn't find out I was pregnant until I was half-way through the album," Krall says. Costello has a nine-year-old son by a previous marriage. He was able to tell her what to expect, but becoming a parent is like becoming a musician: You learn as you go.
"It's wonderful that he's got that," she agrees. "I don't think anybody can tell you what might happen until you've done it. You only can do the best you can. The most important thing is to be healthy."
Krall has taken advice from a few women in the business who've had children but she confesses to not knowing how being a new mother at 41 will affect her. She has thought about it, though.
"Sure," Krall acknowledges. "Lots. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get back by summer."
She emphasizes again the importance of family and how she would like to use the coming months to concentrate on that. This also means tying a tighter bond back home in Nanaimo.
"Of course, I will," Krall says. "My family is there. I'd like to be in Vancouver, too, and I need to be in Vancouver."
Meaning that New York will see less of her in the coming months and the West Coast more, though Vancouver and New York provide the balance that seems crucial to her. If the imminent arrival of twins signifies a new adventure of which she is reluctant to predict, Krall is more forthcoming about music.
Diana Krall was born in Nanaimo in 1964. Her piano playing earned her a scholarship to the prestigious Boston music school, Berklee. Back home in Nanaimo and playing at a local restaurant, she was discovered by bassist Ray Brown, who encouraged her to go to Los Angeles to study with the late Jimmy Rowles. Eventually, she relocated to New York, where she's lived since 1990, and to sing. Krall's first album, Steppin' Out, was released on Justin Time in 1993. Nine albums, several singles, Grammy and Juno Awards later, Krall is the top name in jazz singing and a huge influence.
It's possible to see this locally in the many women jazz singers who have made CDs of pop standards with the hope of emulating Krall. Mostly, they've failed, likely forgetting that Krall not only knows her music but adds extra to it by being an accomplished instrumentalist.
"Really, I don't have any formula or know what I want to write," she says. "I just pick songs I like.
"You can't just choose a song and sing it. You have to find the story in it. And the character. That's important to me. It goes deeper. It covers a lot of emotional ground. It's about finding meaning in every word.
"Choosing songs has been my life's work," Krall continues. "Hunting for songs has always been a hobby to me. It started with my father. He collected 78s."
From This Moment On is rather like the Beach Boys' Wild Honey. After an intense period of a few years encapsulating the highs of Pet Sounds and "Good Vibrations" and the low of Smiley Smile, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson needed to let off steam, Wild Honey's sparseness being the solution. After The Girl In the Other Room, the new album is much lighter and features Krall swinging on all but three of the 12 tracks with the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.
"It's a very intense process," she says of song writing. "And it depends on what you're writing."
And so, with all the selections chosen and no self-written songs, she and her quartet recorded three songs while the orchestra did the rest.
"Most of the songs were done the night before going into the recording studio," Krall laughs. "I've always tried the organic approach. I don't over-Pro-Tools things. I don't cut and paste. I don't think too much like that."
tharrison@png.canwest.com
DIANA KRALL: From This Moment On (Verve)
The song "Exactly Like You" helps to understand this album. Krall dances over the lyric and contributes a short but sprightly piano solo. It has a laughing quality that is symptomatic of the entire album. She has shelved the personal songwriting that was the focus of The Girl In the Other Room for interpretations that are mostly little-known. The comparatively unknown status of her material gives her a tremendous scope and she brings a personal slant and meaning to each song. Working either with her quartet or the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Krall has flexibility and into this forum there is a lot of give and take. "Willow Weep For Me" features an impressively intimate vocal plus Jeff Clayton's economical but well stated sax solo, for instance. From This Moment On has a light touch but it touches all the same. B -- TH
© The Vancouver Province 2006
