Diana doesn’t need her grapes peeled any more

[scielle]

Diana doesn’t need her grapes peeled any more
Peter Wilson
25 October 2007
Cape Argus


Diana Krall does not take the matter of her artistic integrity lightly. After the release of her first career- spanning retrospective, the Canadian jazz singer/pianist admits she no longer feels comfortable performing some of her best-known songs on stage.

Having married Elvis Costello in 2003, the 42-year-old singer is now the “very satisfied” mother of nine-month-old twin boys Frank and Dexter. And that, she believes, has changed everything.

Among the tunes she now refuses to sing live are the playful, sexually suggestive Peel Me A Grape and the sorrowful, introspective tracks from 2004’s The Girl In The Other Room, an album inspired partly by the death of her mother, Adella, from cancer.

“There are songs that were right then, but just aren’t right now,” she says. “My outlook is different now I’m a wife and mother. I could still sing some old songs if I used my imagination, but it wouldn’t feel good. It’s personal. There are some things I need to leave alone.

“I haven’t sung Peel Me A Grape for five years. It is a number from when I was single and still discovering myself. It’s a sexy song for young women. I’d be singing it through gritted teeth now.

“It’s the same with The Girl In The Other Room, a snapshot of where I was after my mother died.

“I find it hard to go back to that material, because I’m not there any more. I’m the joyful mother of two beautiful boys.”

Since she has been making records for 14 years, it is a surprise that it has taken the singer so long to come up with The Very Best of Diana Krall. Her cool, expressive vocals and intricate piano work have won her global fame.

And while her easy-going, accessible approach might be too mainstream for some jazz purists, her expressive take on the pop standards and classic show tunes of the Great American Songbook have helped her sell 14 million albums worldwide. When Krall sings a Cole Porter or Irving Berlin song, she adds her own distinctive touches.

“I’ve avoided a Best Of … before, because my music isn’t about hit singles,” she says. “Overall, I would rather move forward, but it has been interesting to look back over the past 14 years.”

Marriage and motherhood have given Krall an opportunity to take stock. And while she was back on tour within six months of giving birth, she relishes being a hands-on mom.

Chatting in a London hotel, she makes a point of checking an electronic baby-monitor every few minutes.

With Frank and Dexter safely asleep elsewhere, Diana is good company, her relaxed manner an unexpected contrast to her image as a reluctant star and awkward interviewee.

The arrival of the twins last year was a pleasant surprise: “I recall thinking that children weren’t in my cards and I accepted that. I thought I was too late, but I got by despite my late start.

“I had a great pregnancy, too. I was on the road all the way through and really enjoyed myself, even though I was carrying twins.

“Now the boys come with me everywhere. There aren’t many other moms I can speak to who are in the same boat, but the Dixie Chicks have been good. I use their tour bus, which has two cots amid all the bunk beds. It’s useful for singing The Wheels on the Bus to the twins.”

Krall and Costello, 53, met at a Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, where Elvis’s words of encouragement helped to settle a bout of nerves, brought on by the prospect of presenting an award. “I kept agonising over my lines, cutting them and changing them. Elvis told me that I’d end up with nothing to say if I kept editing the script. That would have suited me fine, as I’d rather have been standing at the back of the stage playing a triangle. But he helped to put me at ease.

“People ask if he is a mentor to me and I don’t know what to say to that. He’s my husband and the father of my children. Of course, it is inspiring to be the wife of a great artist, but most of the time we’re too busy being mom and dad. Our relationship works on a number of different levels. But he is a good, kind man – the love of my life.”

Krall has been singing and playing the piano since she was a child in the small town of Nanaimo, British Columbia. With her mother singing in church and her father, Jim, providing inspiration via his huge vinyl collection, Diana began performing in local restaurants and bars when she was 15.

“I immersed myself in my dad’s records and grew up listening to the Great American Songbook,” she recalls. “That’s how I first heard Fats Waller, Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong. I was practising Irving Berlin tunes while all my friends were listening to Elvis Costello!”

After her studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Krall’s artistry attracted the attention of legendary jazz bassist Ray Brown (a former husband of Ella Fitzgerald), who urged her to move to Los Angeles.

There she was taught by pianist Oscar Peterson and carved a reputation as a virtuoso musician who was also prepared to cover material outside the jazz repertoire. And while the snide comments of the jazz snobs have annoyed her in the past – she has even been criticised for album covers that make full use of her sultry good looks – Krall is happy to chart her own destiny, citing two musical legends as her role models.

“The artists I most admire are the ones who had integrity but were also entertainers. Nat King Cole was a great pianist but he was also a pop star. Frank Sinatra had all the style in the world, but he could destroy you with a song like Angel Eyes.

“I’ve gone past the stage where I worry about what the critics say. I’m passionate about what I do, but I’m also an entertainer.”

[Coda]

Thanks for finding the article, scielle. Some of the back-story stuff is off a little (naming Oscar Peterson instead of Jimmy Rowles) but I love the fresh quotations, which is what these articles are really all about. (Although that's the fan in me talking -- not the writer.) As a wife and mother myself, I know I'm in a different place from where I was at BC (before children). I'd bet that Diana will continue to evolve in what she wants to perform as the kids get older and she gets into "a different place" emotionally. What do the other moms on this site think?

I think it's cool that Diana is using the Dixie Chicks' old bus. I'd imagine talking to other female performers who've brought their kids on the road would be exactly the kind of advice to heed.

[kjazz]

"After her studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Krall’s artistry attracted the attention of legendary jazz bassist Ray Brown (a former husband of Ella Fitzgerald), who urged her to move to Los Angeles.

There she was taught by pianist Oscar Peterson..."


She studied with Jimmy Rowles in L.A., not with O.P.
( just not to let the readers be misslead.)

[Samuel]

Thank you Scielle, It's a interesting article you found.

...she now refuses to sing live are the playful, sexually suggestive Peel Me A Grape...

Actually I never noticed this.

...and the sorrowful, introspective tracks from 2004’s The Girl In The Other Room, an album inspired partly by the death of her mother, Adella, from cancer.

I undestand, she's right although I would love listen one more time she singing "The Girl in the other Room" and "Peel Me a Grape".

[christratton]

I imagine the day will come, Sam, when she finds herself in a jaunty, flirty mood and, on a whim, will tell the guys she feels like performing "Peel." You never know!

Question, for everyone: does anyone recall whether she's performing "Frim Fram Sauce" these days? I seem to recall it in one of her west coast setlists this summer.

Thanks, much, scielle. I really enjoyed this article. Diana is a fascinating, complicated - to my mind, inspired - artist.

Thank you again.

-CS

[Samuel]

I hope this day come...

Thanks, much, scielle. I really enjoyed this article. Diana is a fascinating, complicated - to my mind, inspired - artist.

Well said Chris!

[jazzygal karla]

I can recall a concert, several years ago, now, when it was Diana's encore performance. After all the "get your butt back on stage" applause had died down, and she was settling herself at the piano again, a lone voice from the crowd was heard to cry out: "Peel me a Grape!", followed by enthusiastic cheers of those who concurred with the request.

Diana responded: "I think I know that one..." and launched into it, much to the delight of the crowd.

Personally, I can understand Diana's position. Even back then, I almost sensed this sort of: "Heavens, not that song again!" from her. As fans, we love to hear the songs we love performed by the musicians we love. But at what point in time does it just become repetitive? Turning these folks into human jukeboxes, I think, devalues them.

Now, would I like to hear 'Boulveard of Broken Dreams' live? I surely would, because I've not had the pleasure of being present on those occasions when she did.

I just wonder what it is about 'Grape' that has seemed to enthrall people so...It's not the only wonderful piece of music Diana's ever recorded...(Truth be told, it wouldn't even be on my own 'Best of' list.)

[christratton]

Hi Karla:

I agree with you on "Grape." I prefer "Frim Fram Sauce" by a wide margin. I think, though, that a lot of guys find it very sexy, and that is the impetus behind so many requests for it. I'd much rather hear Frim Fram or I Remember You among songs I've not seen her perform. Peel does not make my top tier. Not my style.

-CS

[Samuel]

Oppositely, I love her performance on "Peel me a Grape". Not because of words (you know that I don't know why it is sexually suggestive), actually I like so much of rhythm, arrangements and of the especial way her sing this song.

[christratton]

Sammy:


Peeling a grape suggests removing someone's clothes, or, alternatively, the tactile experience of accessing someone's more private bits in a most intimate way. Especially sexy as Diana sings it.

As for me, as I've said elsewhere on these boards, I find the lightly flirty, teasy "Frim Fram" far preferable to the more demanding "Peel." My two cents.

-CS

[Samuel]

Right Chris. Congratulation to you find out a "no vulgar" way to explain me.

Thank you!

[christratton]

Pleased to be of service, Sam.

-CS