Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... 3771c.html
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Classy Krall's simply smokin'
Wednesday, August 25th, 2004
"I'm a big fan of film noir," Diana Krall announced at her Radio City show last night.
It wasn't what you'd call a shocking disclosure.
Krall has always sung her songs the way a film noir actor plays a part - in smoky tones of sexy suggestion.
At her sold-out show, Krall's enveloping voice created a mood of erotic play and wry insinuation. In her hard exhales and tender croons, she captured a wide range of emotions, all informed by a lingering mood of desire.
Small wonder Krall has become the biggest-selling jazz singer in current pop.
(Note to sticklers: Norah Jones doesn't count. She may record for a jazz label, but, at heart, she's a singer-songwriter).
Even more so than on her CDs, Krall in concert operates as a pure jazz artist, giving as much space to her expert piano playing, and her crack band, as to her sultry vocals.
A lengthy instrumental opened the evening - a frantic take on Art Blakey's "Sometimes I Just Freak Out." The group navigated its manic tempo changes with ironic ease. Krall's solos, here and elsewhere, drew cleverly on elements of swing, free jazz, atonal music, show tunes, classical works and folk-pop.
For her current tour, Krall splits her time between the standards that first launched her career and the original pieces she favors on her latest CD, "The Girl in the Other Room."
She co-wrote the original songs with the most sophisticated lyricist of our era, a man who also happens to be herhusband: Elvis Costello. He showed up at Radio City Music Hall to cheer her on.
Krall turned up the mystery in her version of the new CD's title track, which the two wrote together. She offered more earnest emotion in their gorgeous ballad "Narrow Daylight." But she brought as original a touch toAmerican standard "Body and Soul," avoiding the dreaded museum treatment.
Her band - guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Peter Erskine - proved as adept at light-fingered interludes as at all-out rave-ups.
But in the end, it was the allure of Krall's voice that lingered longest. Lauren Bacall would be proud.
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NY Daily News: Classy Krall's simply smokin'
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NY Daily News: Classy Krall's simply smokin'
by Bud on 26 Aug 2004, 02:16
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Bud - Moderator
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Too small for the Hall
by Rémi on 26 Aug 2004, 08:52
If you call that a review... 
KRALL IS TOO SMALL FOR HALL
By DAN AQUILANTE
August 26, 2004 -- Diana Krall was a beautiful bore.
At her Radio City Music Hall gig Tuesday, in a silvery gown, her long blond hair flowing, she looked like a '40s movie star. But when it came to grabbing the audience, the jazz pianist couldn't pull it off.
She sang well. She played even better. Had Krall unfolded this concert at the Blue Note, she would have ripped the roof off. In Irving Plaza, it would have been intimate and great.
But at Radio City, unless you had seats front and center, Krall crawled.
The jazz goddess came on strong with a noodling instrumental opener backed by her three-man band. That jam shouted that she isn't just a pretty face. The crowd appreciated the manic jazz explosion with clicking fingers, bobbing heads and applause after each solo.
That was the easy part. The hard part was keeping the audience interested.
On Radio City's massive stage, even a showman like Elton John has to work the crowd.
Under Krall's control, the big black Steinway was a magnificent, expressive instrument. It was also her prison.
Ask Mozart: Someone sitting at the piano isn't very exciting to watch. That's why Fats Domino was willing to bump the box across the stage with his belly as he played, why Jerry Lee Lewis would kick his bench away and why Ben Folds flays at the keyboard in windmill gestures.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with how Krall made her fingers fly across the keys. Few pop pianists even approach the emotions she coaxes from the piano. But watching her from the back of the big hall was like watching someone type.
In the end, the house was too big, and Krall was just too small.
Source :NY Post
KRALL IS TOO SMALL FOR HALL
By DAN AQUILANTE
August 26, 2004 -- Diana Krall was a beautiful bore.
At her Radio City Music Hall gig Tuesday, in a silvery gown, her long blond hair flowing, she looked like a '40s movie star. But when it came to grabbing the audience, the jazz pianist couldn't pull it off.
She sang well. She played even better. Had Krall unfolded this concert at the Blue Note, she would have ripped the roof off. In Irving Plaza, it would have been intimate and great.
But at Radio City, unless you had seats front and center, Krall crawled.
The jazz goddess came on strong with a noodling instrumental opener backed by her three-man band. That jam shouted that she isn't just a pretty face. The crowd appreciated the manic jazz explosion with clicking fingers, bobbing heads and applause after each solo.
That was the easy part. The hard part was keeping the audience interested.
On Radio City's massive stage, even a showman like Elton John has to work the crowd.
Under Krall's control, the big black Steinway was a magnificent, expressive instrument. It was also her prison.
Ask Mozart: Someone sitting at the piano isn't very exciting to watch. That's why Fats Domino was willing to bump the box across the stage with his belly as he played, why Jerry Lee Lewis would kick his bench away and why Ben Folds flays at the keyboard in windmill gestures.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with how Krall made her fingers fly across the keys. Few pop pianists even approach the emotions she coaxes from the piano. But watching her from the back of the big hall was like watching someone type.
In the end, the house was too big, and Krall was just too small.
Source :NY Post
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Rémi - Webmaster
- Posts: 598
- Joined: 19 May 2004, 11:26
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A Traditionalist Takes Off Along the Edge of Audacity
by Rémi on 26 Aug 2004, 08:58
I love that dress!
Or is that a nightie?
A Traditionalist Takes Off Along the Edge of Audacity
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: August 26, 2004
Diana Krall arrived at Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday evening with a lot to prove. Having methodically built a career as a formidable pop-jazz traditionalist who suggested a hybrid of Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole and Oscar Peterson, Ms. Krall seemed poised to coast for decades recording tasteful albums of standards.
But recently Ms. Krall, the Canadian singer and pianist, made the kind of break with the past that few performers of her stature would dare. Jumping into the adult-contemporary arena, she released an album, "The Girl in the Other Room" (Verve), whose songs include six original collaborations with her new husband, Elvis Costello. With its tough, stripped-down pop- jazz arrangements and unfamiliar material, the album invited her loyal audience to rough it in the wilderness after the warm, soothing baths of her last two, lavishly orchestrated albums.
The boldness of Ms. Krall's leap recalls Barbra Streisand's first venture into contemporary music and Linda Ronstadt's sudden embrace of traditional pop (a gesture some feel justifies her exclusion from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). A moderate success, "The Girl in the Other Room" may have gained Ms. Krall new fans, but it has infuriated longtime supporters, and many have registered their displeasure in consumer reviews on Amazon.com.
At Radio City Music Hall, where she concluded a 34-city tour, Ms. Krall was not backing down. Although there were a fair number of walkouts, the capacity audience generally expressed a cautious approval of a concert that pushed pop-jazz to an unusual level of sophistication for a large concert hall. Appearing with a trio that included Anthony Wilson on guitar, Robert Hurst on bass and Peter Erskine on drums, Ms. Krall performed much of the new album, along with a few oldies, concluding the evening with a voice- and-piano version of her sturdiest original song, the bittersweet "Departure Bay."
For inspiration, Ms. Krall has always looked only to the best. The principal muse informing her original material is her fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell. And the knotty new songs, with their wandering melodies, introspective lyrics, and jazz instrumental breaks owe much to Ms. Mitchell's music, especially to the album, "Hejira."
Two of Ms. Krall's collaborations with Mr. Costello, "Abandoned Masquerade" and "The Girl in the Other Room," have a torchy film-noir undertone that was accented on Tuesday by Ms. Krall's striking appearance in a white silk dress. Her growling versions of Tom Waits's and Kathleen Brennan's "Temptation" and Ms. Mitchell's "Black Crow" also toyed with the femme fatale imagery that suggested the movie "Body Heat." The concert's most satisfying moment was a slow-burning, smoky rendition of the vintage torch song "You Call It Madness."
Throughout the concert, Ms. Krall displayed a new improvisatory audacity, stretching her dark, whispery voice toward a blues shout, dredging up expressive growls, bending notes and, as always, swinging like a gymnast from phrase to phrase.
Ms. Krall is obviously reaching for something very high. If it is still not quite within her grasp, you can only applaud the courage it takes to make such a dangerous and unnecessary leap into unknown territory.
Source: NY Post
Or is that a nightie?
A Traditionalist Takes Off Along the Edge of Audacity
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: August 26, 2004
Diana Krall arrived at Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday evening with a lot to prove. Having methodically built a career as a formidable pop-jazz traditionalist who suggested a hybrid of Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole and Oscar Peterson, Ms. Krall seemed poised to coast for decades recording tasteful albums of standards.
But recently Ms. Krall, the Canadian singer and pianist, made the kind of break with the past that few performers of her stature would dare. Jumping into the adult-contemporary arena, she released an album, "The Girl in the Other Room" (Verve), whose songs include six original collaborations with her new husband, Elvis Costello. With its tough, stripped-down pop- jazz arrangements and unfamiliar material, the album invited her loyal audience to rough it in the wilderness after the warm, soothing baths of her last two, lavishly orchestrated albums.
The boldness of Ms. Krall's leap recalls Barbra Streisand's first venture into contemporary music and Linda Ronstadt's sudden embrace of traditional pop (a gesture some feel justifies her exclusion from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). A moderate success, "The Girl in the Other Room" may have gained Ms. Krall new fans, but it has infuriated longtime supporters, and many have registered their displeasure in consumer reviews on Amazon.com.
At Radio City Music Hall, where she concluded a 34-city tour, Ms. Krall was not backing down. Although there were a fair number of walkouts, the capacity audience generally expressed a cautious approval of a concert that pushed pop-jazz to an unusual level of sophistication for a large concert hall. Appearing with a trio that included Anthony Wilson on guitar, Robert Hurst on bass and Peter Erskine on drums, Ms. Krall performed much of the new album, along with a few oldies, concluding the evening with a voice- and-piano version of her sturdiest original song, the bittersweet "Departure Bay."
For inspiration, Ms. Krall has always looked only to the best. The principal muse informing her original material is her fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell. And the knotty new songs, with their wandering melodies, introspective lyrics, and jazz instrumental breaks owe much to Ms. Mitchell's music, especially to the album, "Hejira."
Two of Ms. Krall's collaborations with Mr. Costello, "Abandoned Masquerade" and "The Girl in the Other Room," have a torchy film-noir undertone that was accented on Tuesday by Ms. Krall's striking appearance in a white silk dress. Her growling versions of Tom Waits's and Kathleen Brennan's "Temptation" and Ms. Mitchell's "Black Crow" also toyed with the femme fatale imagery that suggested the movie "Body Heat." The concert's most satisfying moment was a slow-burning, smoky rendition of the vintage torch song "You Call It Madness."
Throughout the concert, Ms. Krall displayed a new improvisatory audacity, stretching her dark, whispery voice toward a blues shout, dredging up expressive growls, bending notes and, as always, swinging like a gymnast from phrase to phrase.
Ms. Krall is obviously reaching for something very high. If it is still not quite within her grasp, you can only applaud the courage it takes to make such a dangerous and unnecessary leap into unknown territory.
Source: NY Post
-
Rémi - Webmaster
- Posts: 598
- Joined: 19 May 2004, 11:26
- Location: Limoges, France
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