Hartford Courant: Boogie-Woogie Krall

[Bud]

http://www.courant.com/entertainment/mu ... ory?page=1

Boogie-Woogie Krall
With Her Twin Infants In Tow, Jazz Pianist Is Back In The Swing

By OWEN McNALLY

Special To The Courant

July 12, 2007

With her twin tots in tow, jazz superstar Diana Krall is on the road again, thriving on a grueling 38-city tour that sets down tonight at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford.

The Grammy Award winner whose recordings sell by the hundreds of thousands - staggering stats for a jazz performer - took a sabbatical after she and her famous husband, British musician Elvis Costello, were blessed with the arrival of twin boys last Dec. 6 in New York City.

After months at home, Krall, 42, began to wonder whether her performance skills might be getting a little rusty, she says in a telephone interview from Las Vegas, during a four-night stint at the Hilton Hotel.

So the obvious answer was to combine her two great passions - her new one for motherhood and her old one for performing - into one by taking the boys, Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, on tour.

"The things that come with being on the road are definitely challenges. You're asking me now, when I can't even get my laundry done here. And now that I have the two boys, it's more challenging. But it's fun," she says enthusiastically.

"They've been traveling with us quite a bit," she says, "so they're really quite flexible. We've been to England, Vancouver and San Francisco. They're here with me now in Vegas, and they're really good.

"We do everything together. I've taken them to art galleries, where they're either interested, or they just go to sleep. They hear music that Elvis and I play in the household. But just because we're both musicians, we don't force anything on them. As far as professions go, they're just going to be whatever they're going to be," she says.

Being a busy pop-music power couple with a new double-dose of parental responsibilities is, of course, quite demanding.

"It's hard. Elvis is going to be away for a month on tour, and that is not going to be easy. We do have a daily routine, which includes bedtime for the boys, but our overall schedule just kind of forms as we go along.

"We have the same management, which really helps because they can at least coordinate our concert and touring schedules. But it's great since my husband, because of who he is, understands what I have to do and is completely supportive. He's on the road with me right now, and it's wonderful because he totally gets it.

"I couldn't be happier or feel more fortunate to have what I have in my life right now," she says.

A lot of Krall's upbeat vibe is reflected in her latest release on Verve Records, "From This Moment On," which pairs her velvety voice and crisp piano styling with first-rate backup by the dynamic Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Released last fall, it debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 Chart and spent nine consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Jazz Chart.

Her first new studio album of standards in five years, it's packed with celebratory renditions of such exuberant American songbook classics as its title tune, Cole Porter's "From This Moment On." Krall makes the song's famous couplet, "No more blue songs/Only whoop-dee-doo songs," sound like a hip hosanna to a joyful turning point in her life.

The same mix of bright swing and sunny disposition inspires her interpretations of a bouquet of jubilant evergreens. Among these are "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" which lights up like a luminous performance by Fred Astaire, and an ebullient romp through "Exactly Like You."

Krall, of course, is far too savvy to make an entire album devoted to a single mood.

So, as buoyant as this disc is, it also runs a gamut of emotions, from a vibrant, sexy rendition of the Gershwin brothers' "I Was Doing Alright" to sad, evocative versions of "Little Girl Blue" and "Willow Weep for Me." Krall's achingly sensitive interpretation of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "How Insensitive" is a hushed, almost whispered, heartbreaking lament over the end of a love affair.

If you've only heard Krall performing live with her quartet, swinging in a lithe, sophisticated Nat King Cole kind of groove, you might be surprised to hear how much at home she is performing with a genuine jazz orchestra backing her up with solid charts and top improvising soloists.

Although she's touring with the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, don't look for Krall to dip only into selections from "From This Moment On."

"We're not out promoting an album and playing just from a specific record," she says of her upcoming concert at Chevrolet Theatre. (Krall appears on a double bill in Wallingford with popular sweet-toned trumpeter Chris Botti.)

"Since we opened with the orchestra at Yoshi's [a noted jazz spot in Oakland, Calif.], we've just been kind of playing tunes. We play tunes from earlier albums as well as new tunes. It's a big repertoire, and I'm just playing whatever I feel like," Krall says.

"From This Moment On," she says, will always have a profoundly special meaning for her, far beyond its being yet another successful recording for Verve. (A major label, Verve supports Krall with the kind of promotional and distribution muscle that most jazz musicians can only dream of.)

"I was pregnant when I was making `From This Moment On,' so that was pretty joyful. I found out I was pregnant on the very day that I started in the studio," she says.

Although a vibrant performer on stage, Krall is an intensely private individual, introspective and, at least early on in her career, even shy.

Oddly enough, the multi-platinum-selling jazz artist takes a skeptical view of fame.

"I'm not going to be disingenuous about this. Yes, I enjoy my life and the success, but I don't really think about celebrityhood.

"My husband is an icon. When I'm by myself, I go pretty much unnoticed. But when I'm with him, that's when that celebrity thing happens," she says.

Part of Krall's remarkable success - particularly on an early pivotal recording like "All for You," her homage to Nat King Cole - has been due to her incisive piano playing, accented by a sharp sense of swing that gives her phrasing an extra kick.

On being able to swing as a pianist, Krall, who has a dry wit and modest way, explains, "I don't have any chops on piano. I don't have any range. I don't have any technique. I don't have anything interesting except that I can swing.

"I've always felt that sense of swing in the music since I can remember, growing up in my family's music-filled house in Nanaimo [British Columbia, Canada]. Where does it come from? Probably from listening to my dad's vintage record collection and growing up listening to Fats Waller since I was a baby," she says.

Yet another Krall trademark - besides her sultry singing style and swinging piano playing - is her droll sense of humor that pops up spontaneously in asides during live performances.

"I grew up watching Jack Benny and people like Bob Newhart and was passionate about the Marx Brothers. I learned timing from Benny and Newhart," she says. (As an adult, Krall would later become friends with Newhart, eventually getting to tell the comedian how much she idolized his sense of timing.)

"I don't plan anything before a concert and don't have any shtick," she adds. "I just kind of improvise and sometimes say things and later think, `Oh, God, that was so dumb! Why did I say that?'

"But at least it's not forced. I try to talk to the audience just like I'd talk to anybody else," she says.

Krall has a deep, sentimental attachment to Connecticut because of her still vivid memories of her appearance early in her career at the first Litchfield Jazz Festival in 1996.

A relative unknown, Krall was a showstopper at the then-fledgling festival, which has, in turn, gone on to national acclaim.

After a standing ovation from the Litchfield crowd of several thousand, Krall was presented with a bouquet and mobbed off-stage by a crowd of enthusiastic fans, young and old. It was an early display of Krallmania, a dramatic foreshadowing of her worldwide success over the next decade.

"Of course I remember Litchfield! It's one of the best festivals! I even remember what I wore that day - a white suit," Krall says.

"If that first year was a big deal for them, well, it was a big deal for me, too," she says.

Asked about long-range plans, Krall says, "I hope I can just keep playing live and touring, and that people will want to come out and hear me and find it interesting.

"Over the past few days, people have come up to me after performances and tell me, `It's like you never were away.' I feel very good and excited about hearing that. After being off for six months, I worried whether I could even play the piano anymore.

"I hope the music moves people. That's all. You just want them to have a good time. I am an entertainer."

On the home front, harmony also reigns, even with the disruptive, high-pressure performance schedules for Mom and Dad, she says:

"We have a lot fun. It's just heavenly right now, especially with the two boys."

DIANA KRALL performs at the Chevrolet Theatre tonight. Chris Botti opens the show at 7:30. The theater is at 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford. Tickets, $75, $65 and $45. Information: 203-265-1501.

[christratton]

http://www.courant.com/entertainment/mu ... 1704.story

My comment: I don't see why some reviewers need to make snotty comments such as Diana has a limited voice, but aside from that, this is a reasonably good review.

Courant.com
A Classic Night With Diana Krall
By DONNA LARCEN

Courant Staff Writer

July 14, 2007

It was a grand night for the American songbook Thursday at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford as headliner Diana Krall and opener Chris Botti showed why the classics are classics.

Krall, leading her impressive quartet, is back on the road for the first time since having twin boys with husband Elvis Costello.

She kicked off with an up-tempo version of Peggy Lee's "I Love Being Here With You," giving her band a showcase, as she did throughout the set.

Bass player John Clayton, guitarist Anthony Wilson and drummer Jeff Hamilton allowed a musical conversation that worked with ease all evening.

Krall does not have a fantastic voice; she uses it as another instrument.

But her solid jazz piano and impeccable timing make her a total entertainer. She knows how to squeeze the most of her range and give the lyrics sincerity.

And despite claiming she is shy, Krall talked between numbers about her new twins, her struggle with weight and her thoughts about a new musical direction, an album for children.

"I can't make it too sultry," she said, joking, then launched into "The Wheels on the Bus."

The most intimate moment came as she performed "If I Had You" solo, a quiet tribute to Nat King Cole, which she recorded on "All For You," dedicated to the late singer and his trio. It had the feel of a smoky bar at 3 a.m.

She followed with another Cole tribute, "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You," and then a sad and sweet "Little Girl Blue."

But the only thing blue in Krall's universe at the moment is that husband Costello is on tour in Europe.

Krall continues this tour through September, when she headlines the Monterey Jazz Festival.

The opening act, trumpeter Chris Botti, showed off his smooth-jazz moves fronting a swinging quartet of his own.

He started quietly with "Ave Maria," dazzled with "When I Fall in Love" and mingled in the aisles with a version of Ennio Morricone's title theme from "Cinema Paradiso," announcing the band had just finished mixing a new album of Italian music that will be out in September.

Botti is a crowd-pleaser, with an easy rapport with the audience.

Contact Donna Larcen at dlarcen@courant.com.

Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant

[Coda]

I would disagree about the "does not have a fantastic voice" comment. Diana herself admits that she has a limited singing range, but I would not equate that with a lack of fantastic-ness! She can go from scatting to evoking deep emotion with a minimum of vocal theatrics. I think that's to be admired.

[Samuel]

I would disagree about the "does not have a fantastic voice" comment. Diana herself admits that she has a limited singing range, but I would not equate that with a lack of fantastic-ness! She can go from scatting to evoking deep emotion with a minimum of vocal theatrics. I think that's to be admired.

Yes Coda, you are right. Sometimes I think that DK is best on piano but of course: She haves a beautiful voice and sing very well...
Remember of songs like Narrow Dayligtht or The Look of Love less Diana's voice..... horrible isn't?

[christratton]

Well said, Coda. Thanks. Range ain't everything there is to voice. DK has a superb vocal talent, needless to say. ...

[surfy]

She may not have have an endless range but the sound is completely like no other. And I mean that in a good way.

[christratton]

Actually, in a way I imagine Diana would find flattering, her vocal sound is an awful lot like Joni Mitchell's at times. Give a try to "At Last" from "Both Sides Now." I had the iPod on shuffle just now and up came that lovely song. At first I thought it was a Diana number to which I'd yet to pay much heed. No, indeed, it was Joni Mitchell, whom I know Diana admires greatly. VERY similar. In a very nice way, of course.

-CS

PS: Am listening to "A Case of You" by Joni Mitchell as I type this, and yes, there is a lot of similarity, though they of course are not identical. An interesting compare and contrast.

[jazzygal karla]

Actually, in a way I imagine Diana would find flattering, her vocal sound is an awful lot like Joni Mitchell's at times. Give a try to "At Last" from "Both Sides Now." I had the iPod on shuffle just now and up came that lovely song. At first I thought it was a Diana number to which I'd yet to pay much heed. No, indeed, it was Joni Mitchell, whom I know Diana admires greatly. VERY similar. In a very nice way, of course.

-CS

PS: Am listening to "A Case of You" by Joni Mitchell as I type this, and yes, there is a lot of similarity, though they of course are not identical. An interesting compare and contrast.

The Joni of today, perhaps, after the decades of smoking have taken their toll! Because Diana certainly does not sound - and has never sounded - like the early sweet soprano Joni of the 60s and 70s. While I don't think Diana necessarily sounds like Joni, I did start to notice some artistic similarities, especially with Girl in the Other Room. It pleases me to no end that Diana has seen it fit to cover Joni's material, so I also think Diana would find any positive comparison flattering.

(I just keep hoping she'll do 'Edith and the Kingpin' like her hubby recently did...)

[christratton]

Karla, for some reason, I only just saw this response. I agree with you that it's nice that Diana has taken to doing some J Mitchell songs. I am fascinated by the similarities between them, though the differences are almost equally as interesting. Joni's husky, smoky voice in the song "Both Sides Now" and on much of the album of the same name finds a worthy heir of sorts in the Diana of today. The soulfulness is there, too. Each is a treat in her own way.

Hope you're enjoying what's left of your summer!

-CS