Diana Krall immersed in her performance at the Palais.
Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones
Diana Krall
Reviewer Jessica Nicholas
April 15, 2005
Diana Krall - the Canadian jazz singer whose multi-platinum reputation rests on her seductive interpretations of well-known standards - earned herself plenty of street credibility when she married rock iconoclast Elvis Costello in 2003.
Krall's most recent album, The Girl in the Other Room, shows the musical results of this pairing, and lies at the heart of her current Australian tour.
The album's title track was an early highlight of her show at the Palais last night, revealing not only Krall's gifts as a songwriter, but her ability to reinvent her recorded tunes on stage.
Last night's rendition began and ended in a mood of wistful introspection, but also incorporated a delightfully swinging jazz waltz interlude.
Stop This World, too, opened with a stripped-back piano solo before Krall dug into the keys and coaxed the chorus into a gritty blues swagger.
As an interpreter, Krall seems to have an in-built instinct for choosing songs that suit her husky, full-bodied voice, which resonated with a world-weary tenderness as she and her empathetic rhythm section danced a slow rumba through Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
