[Dixielandjazz] Diana Krall reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Two vastly different takes on Diana Krall's solo performance.  

Diana Krall's Solo Performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival
Without her band in tow, the veteran falters
by Jim Harrington
JazzTimes.com, June 27, 2011
The damp, overcast and altogether unseasonal weather might not have thrilled organizers
during opening weekend of the 34th annual Montreal International Jazz Festival. But
it didn't bother Diana Krall one bit.
"I thank you for letting it rain," remarked the 46-year-old native of Nanaimo, British
Columbia, Canada during her festival show on Sunday night (6/26). "I'm sort of homesick
for Vancouver. I work better when it's miserable weather."
Krall could use all the help she could get -- even from the weather -- at Theatre
Maisonneuve Place des Arts. The jazz superstar, who has sold more records than basically
anybody else in the genre over the last 18 years, was doing something different for
this sold-out three-night run, stepping out of her comfort zone to perform her first-ever
solo shows at the request of festival organizers.
And she looked and sounded the part on opening night, coming across not only like
somebody who had never done this before but (even worse) like someone who had no
real interest in doing it.
It was a vastly different experience than seeing Krall perform with her regular quartet.
She seemed as fidgety and uncomfortable as a cat on a hot tin roof during her solo
show, flaying at her attempts at witty stage banter (never Krall's strong point),
trying to overcompensate for the absence of her band mates on several songs, making
mistakes at both the microphone the piano and, in general, looking like she wanted
to be anyplace but onstage.
Maybe it was just a case of opening night jitters, an understandable enough explanation
given the undertaking. One certainly hopes her show improved as the run progressed.
Or maybe it didn't, which might explain why Krall has avoided performing solo for
so long.
Krall, whose husband, Elvis Costello, was in the building on opening night, certainly
had a game plan going into the show. It was to take a musical stroll down Memory
Lane, a narrative that would allow her to revisit the music that influenced her during
her formative years. Yet, this theme hindered more than helped, strictly fencing
her into a program that allowed little room for spontaneity and improvisation. When
things weren't going well for Krall, which was often, she simply kept trudging through
the muck, when a savvy veteran should've been able to read the crowd (or her own
feelings) and make the required corrections.
Looking stunning in a sleeveless, knee-length black dress, Krall started off fairly
strong as she opened the 100-minute set with a breathy, sultry version of the Dave
Frishberg composition "Peel Me a Grape," which Krall originally featured on her fourth
album, 1997's "Love Scenes." Yet, that initial momentum would wear off by the second
number, a tenuous take on the old Bing Crosby chestnut "Did You Ever See a Dream
Walking?," as her piano work began to feel strained. She made a nice entrance into
a piano part, but didn't know what to do with it, as if she was looking for somebody
else to step in and solo. Unfortunately, her regular guitarist, Anthony Wilson, wasn't
there to do the heavy lifting.
By the third number, the standard "Come Dance With Me," Krall was visibly frustrated
with the way things were going. She let out a sigh of exasperation toward the end
of the song, answering the lyric "When the band begins to leave the stand..." with
the commentary "I think they've already left."
She then entered into a segment in honor of one of her earliest influences, Fats
Waller. (Waller must have been in the air -- Anat Cohen also covered the great jazz
pianist during her jazz festival set later that same night.) This segment produces
the evening's finest moment, a gorgeous, supple take on "Keepin' Out of Mischief,"
which Krall dedicated to Costello.
Things deteriorated from there, as a tongue-tied Krall faltered at the microphone
at the beginning of the Gene Austin favorite "Everything's Made for Love," forcing
her to remark, "I will start this again."
It was a similar story during her tribute to Oscar Peterson, which consisted of a
trying take on the old Gershwin classic "I Was Doing All Right," only this time the
trouble came on the keys. During this song, which Krall recorded on 2006's "From
This Moment On," she stumbled during one particularly meaty piano part, again remarking,
"I'll try that again." Her second pass was equally inadequate. And when she remarked
at the song's conclusion, "This is fun," it was difficult to believe her.
It wasn't fun. But hopefully the next two nights of Krall's first-ever solo performances
proved more enjoyable for the fans as well as the star herself.
________________________________________
Krall Enthralls Crowd with Intimate Performance
by Jeff Heinrich
Montreal Gazette, June 27, 2011
Diana Krall invited her audience into the living room of her childhood home in Nanaimo,
B.C. and, alone at the grand piano with only her dad's gramophone as a prop for company,
played the music she loved as a girl.
It was an intimate show Sunday night at Theatre Maisonneuve, as Krall put a sold-out
hall at ease with standards and surprised with some not-so-standards of the Great
American Songbook.
Opening with Peel Me a Grape, she soon launched into a medley of Fats Waller tunes,
stamping her black stiletto heels as she pounded away at the keyboard, boogie-woogie
style, tossing her blond curls to the rhythm.
Form-fitting, sleeveless black dress aside, it was a far cry from that old Chrysler
ad and The Look of Love, more a return to the roots of Krall's 1995 fest debut when
she proved her love for Nat King Cole.
In between songs, she talked fondly of learning her chops from Jimmy Rowles and jamming
in Oscar Peterson's basement, recalled how she was a disaster on third clarinet in
her high-school band, and reminisced about listening to jazz on her father's reel-to-reel
tape player and 78-rpm records.
If the audience didn't always get her jazz references, Krall forgave them. "Thanks
for listening to songs you might not have heard before," she said after introducing
something by Bix Beiderbecke and getting no response.
No matter. Whether it was a familiar tune like Don't Fence Me In or an unfamiliar
one like the vintage ode to dope, Reefer Song, Krall's performance -- her first full-length
solo concert ever -- pulled the crowd into her world.
She closed her 15-song, 80-minute uninterrupted set with a lovely but obscure 1938
movie tune called As Long As I Love and came back for a three-song encore playing
-- guess what? -- a ukulele. Why? Because her childhood hero, Groucho Marx, played
one.
She and her husband, Elvis Costello play the instrument in bed, she explained, before
softly strumming All I Do Is Dream of You and encouraging her fans to sing along.
Few knew the words.
Then it was back to the piano for Krall's own Departure Bay and, as an adieu, a Prairie
Lullaby for her twin boys, Dexter and Frank. Sweet dreams, all.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

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