Jubilee Theatre, Edmonton (CAN), Feb 12, 2013

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http://www.gigcity.ca/2012/10/01/diana- ... -february/

Diana Krall brings Glad Rag Doll to the Jube in February

Diana Krall, it has been imagined, is both the piano player and the sultry chanteuse who lies atop the piano while she sings.

You don’t get a rare double threat like this every day. It’s only once in a while – in this case Tuesday, Feb. 12, when the star of Canadian jazz performs at the Jubilee Auditorium. Tickets go on sale Friday.

Krall, a frequent visitor to our town – the first gig tinkling “The Look of Love” and such in the Westin Hotel lounge for the Jazz City festival back in the day – is touring behind her new album Glad Rag Doll. She’s gone waaaay back for this one, plumbing gems from the gay old times of the ‘20s and ‘30s, rendered on a 19th Century upright piano with authentic touches from the great producer T Bone Burnett, who apparently used analog tape instead of digital recording. What a maverick. This is by far the coolest record Krall has ever made.

From the usual exploits of a Canadian jazz musician (playing wallpaper music in hotel lobbies), Krall exploded into popularity in 1997 with the release of “Love Scenes,” her smoky readings of smooth jazz standards quickly becoming the soundtrack to seductions carried out in coffee shops everywhere. Four somewhat similar records followed, so it’s nice to see she’s stepping out – even so far into the past.

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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Krall+br ... story.html

Krall brings her fierce magic to Jubilee


Review

EDMONTON - There’s something of an eclipse in Diana Krall. Like celestial bodies courting, she’s a collision of light and dark, brief and unusual, an event you’re lucky to catch. You can’t help but watch, be mesmerized, even when they warn you you’ll go blind.

Lucky for us, Krall and her gorgeous growling contralto come along a little more often than total eclipses.

It’s been four years, British Columbia’s jazz queen reminded us in Edmonton Tuesday night from the stage of the Jubilee Auditorium, and my, wasn’t the house of 2,000 fans happy to have her back. Fingers began snapping before Krall had even uttered a note, and in fact it was actor Steve Buscemi who sang the opening notes in a quirky though not unlikable intro. A projected image of the Boardwalk Empire star, dressed like Charlie Chaplin and crooning When The Curtain Comes Down, set the evening’s tone, with Krall tucking herself in at the piano in the shadows then taking over in the second verse.

Krall flew Edmonton to the moon — and back, and forth, and back — with her vintage-film-inspired show, packed with tunes like Let It Rain and Prairie Lullaby from her latest album, Glad Rag Doll, along with (of course!) the title track.

The 2012 release is a love letter of sorts to her father — his old records, and his joy for music, passed on. Krall even hauled along Dad’s gramophone, which earned a place of prominence on the stage.

“He doesn’t know I took that,” she jested.

The old device fit right in with the decor, a vaudevillian feast of red velvet drapes, clamshell lighting and enormous moon sliver freckled with stars.

I half hoped Krall would hop on the moon and float up into the rafters — sue a girl for dreaming — but the diva was too engrossed in her baby grand, those signature blond locks flicking and swaying while she belted out as if her twin boys, six, might just hear her from their beds on a school night.

The sassy, scantily clad Krall splayed on the cover of Glad Rag Doll couldn’t be further from the Krall we saw Tuesday night, the only bare skin her hands and face in a black suit and knee-high patent leather boots.

She chatted nervously, left knee drumming, making awkward jokes, rambling even, but it only made added to her charm, made her all the more human. And that’s important, for the Nanaimo-born musician has achieving something of a constellation status with her slew of Grammy and Juno Awards. Oh, but she took a moment to reminisce about performing in Edmonton’s Jazz Festival at the age of 16.

“I still have my trophy, I keep it on my mantelpiece.” Awkward laughs. “Hey it means a lot to me.”

Nervous, speaking, but immediately at ease in the music, in the meaty, fierce magic that is her voice and fingers on the keys, whether on Peel Me a Grape and Frim Fram Sauce, or covers of Tom Waits’ Temptation and hubby Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue. Twas smokin’-roarin’-Twenties-ragtime-Ziegfield-Follies toffee, sweet on the tongue, stuck in the teeth until the next day.

Krall did a chunk of requests from the upright piano, alone onstage, the kind of homegrown, jammy session that makes you wish you could play even one song so brilliantly, so naturally, stumbles and all. “Ah! S--t!” she cursed, her fingers rubbery a moment, then back into their groove. “I shoulda taken the Grade 8 piano exam like my mom told me.” No. Jazzy wizardry like this can’t be taught, can’t be tested.

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http://www.gigcity.ca/2013/02/13/review ... -pretense/

REVIEW: Krall’s sultry show all grace, no pretense

There’s a realness about Diana Krall that can’t be measured. Sure, she’s a multi-platinum-selling, Grammy and Juno award-winning artist who happens to be publicly married to another multi-platinum-selling, Grammy award-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist. Despite all that and more, there are no emanations of celebrity from her onstage.

Maybe it’s the Canadian in her or what, but at her almost sold out concert the Jubilee Auditorium, Krall was down-to-earth and self-deprecating, funny yet serious, a true musical professional backed by a incredible five-piece band without seeming and sounding too professional. She made fun of her playing, laughed at comments and requests shouted from the crowd and told stories about her family. She even paused in the middle of a song to make fun of her marriage only to jump right back into the song without missing a beat.

And there was the moment, about a third of the way into the concert, when Krall’s band left her alone on the stage. At first she seemed self-conscious to be all alone in front the crowd. But she quickly turned away from her grand piano and sat behind a more humble old upright.

For the next 20 minutes, she sat mostly with her back to the crowd, asking for and fulfilling requests shouted out from the audience. She laughed at some, responded that she couldn’t remember certain songs and exclaimed an expletive when she felt she made a mistake while playing. She told stories about her Grandmother who plied her with cigarettes and Kahlua and Cream while regaling her granddaughter with stories about an old vaudevillian aunt.

It was in those moments when Krall turned the Jubilee into the biggest yet most intimate piano bar in the world. All that was missing was a giant brandy snifter where people could pop in tips. She could have gone all night like that and no one would have complained.

In fact, it would be fantastic to see Krall play an entire show like that. She may be the sexy blond jazz singer with the sultry voice, but she also has the presence and the piano chops to pull such a thing off.

And while there was a bit of disappointment to have the band come back and share the stage with her, that feeling quickly abated. They jumped back into the groove as Krall delved into a nostalgic line of blues, jazz, and country standards (including a nice rockin’ version of The Band’s Ophelia as a tribute to the late Levon Helm), capping the show with a sublime version of Tom Waits Temptation followed by the closer, Jimmie Rogers’ Prairie Lullaby.

It was a quiet end, no strobes, no pyros, but it was the perfect conclusion to a memorable night.

[Coda]

I wonder if Elvis' spinning wheel on his performing stage has given Diana the inspiration to take requests. Interesting.