Pikes Peak Center, Colorado Springs (CO), Sept 25, 2013

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Jazz Concert Review: Diana Krall
A Stunning Evening Of American Music

Rating 4 Star (out of 5)

The beauty of Diana Krall's Glad Rag Doll tour is not just in the sound of her voice, the ring of her piano playing, the interaction of her band or the lush stage production that accompanies her music.
The most beautiful thing about seeing her tour this album is the incisive way she ties together the whole breadth and history of popular music into a thoughtfully choreographed two hour performance.

The Scene

The tableau on the Pikes Peak Center stage on the night of Diana Krall's Glad Rag Doll concert was simply stunning.

Bathed in mauve and maroon, with a gorgeous antique player piano at stage right, an old Victrola downstage left and classic "shells" as footlights, the scene was like that of a 1920s music hall. Bordering the stage were art deco styled curtains, wrapped in lights that changed color from scene to scene.

With Diana set up on stage right, surrounded by the player piano, a small electric keyboard facing upstage and a grand piano facing her band, she was joined by a quintet of exceptional players from the jazz, rock and Americana scenes.

Aram Bajakian, known for his work in the New York downtown space with Lou Reed and Yusef Lateef manned the guitar with Robert Plant/Alison Krause Raising Sand alumni Stuart Duncan on fiddle. Off in the corner, playing additional keyboards and accordion was Patrick Warren, who's played with everyone from Taylor Swift to Tom Waits. Anchoring the rhythm section were Dennis Crouch (founder of the Nashville country swing band, The Time Jumpers) with former Mulgrew Miller sideman Karriem Wiggins on drums.

The audience was as eclectic as the band. Along with about a thousand gray haired country clubbers hoping to hear her sing "A Case Of You," there were young couples out for a big night on the town, a smattering of cowboys showing off their country finery, more than a few financial up-and-comers hoping to show they have good taste and the occasional out-of-place kid in jeans and sneakers.

The Tunes

Rather than open the show in a standard walk-on-and-get-it-started fashion, Glad Rag Doll live started with a short film introduction featuring Boardwalk Empire star Steve Buscemi, to which Diana and the band added a slow, sweet musical score.

The first four tracks from the Glad Rag Doll album --"We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye," "There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth the Salt of My Tears," "Just Like a Butterfly That's Caught in the Rain" and "You Know, I Know Ev'rything's Made for Love" were the first four tunes of the concert, all delivered in a style in her trademark jazz standard style.

Noting that Tom Waits should be accorded the same respect as a composer like Gershwin, things started to get interesting with her brilliant arrangement of his tune, "Temptation." Gray hairs in the audience were definitely swept back by the band's defiantly rock and roll approach to the cut, highlighted by a searing Bajakian guitar solo and Diana's own mid-tune barrel house breakdown.

Following solo piano versions of "Let's Face The Music And Dance" and Dave Frishberg's "Peel A Grape," the band returned for a reading of "Glad Rag Doll." Taking a right turn, literally, toward the player piano -- which, she suggested, had space for a mini-bar within -- Diana showed her ragtime chops with a feverish interpretation of Fats Waller's "Sit Right Down And Right Myself A Letter" (after which she stood right up and took a bow). The band's reading of Buddy and Julie Miller's "Wide River To Cross," featuring Duncan on harmonies, was exquisite; the drum work by Wiggins on "Just You, Just Me" was sharp as a tack.

For the encore, she chose "Departure Bay," her beautiful co-write with husband Elvis Costello, a favorite of her Mom's, Cole Porter's "Don't Fence Me In" and, finally, a stomping interpretation of The Band's "Ophelia."

Throughout most of the proceedings, the music was accompanied by a series of black and white films, many of them from (or designed to look like) movies from the 1920s. Some of them -- like the "sun and moon" piece during "Sunny Side of the Street" -- were simply a distraction. Others, like the home movies she rolled during "Departure Bay" and "Don't Fence In," were a charming and, sometimes, heartwarming addition to the story.

The Final Word

Occasional video distraction notwithstanding, the concert was exceptional. The band was spot-on, Diana's voice was a honey-sweet and sexy as ever, her stage patter funny and engaging and her arrangement perfectly conceived. As she connected the dots between the 1920s and the 2020s, infusing into the proceedings stories of friends and family, she offered us insight into the "ways and whys" of her creativity.

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Photo galery: http://jazz.about.com/od/resources/ig/D ... o-Gallery/