By Howie Grapek | Live Shows | February 06, 2011
As part of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ 20-year anniversary, Diana Krall started the celebration with a spectacular live performance. Diana tickled the ivories with precision, gloriously sang and entertained the patrons at the sold-out venue. The music played this evening included samples of her award-winning career’s music. She played pieces from her 12 albums and touched briefly on her new album – one with a new Brazilian focus.
Prior to the show, Kelly Shanley, the Broward Center’s president/CEO, took the stage and spoke briefly to the sold-out audience. He first thanked everyone for being a part of the 20-year celebration festivities. He introduced Krall as “legendary”, saying “I cannot think of a more fitting performer to kick off the 20-year celebration than the beautiful and talented Diana Krall.”
While on stage, Diana shared that she grew up listening to old records. She explained that her father was a stride-style pianist and a serious record collector. Now, at 46 years of age, she continues to love both playing and listening to music and said that her motivations for new music comes from what she absorbed as a child. She mentioned tonight would be filled with “freestyle” music – and that Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald were some of her favorites.
During one of her pieces, she “modified” a Cole classic by adding a piece of “American fan fare”. When she was done playing it, she smiled and said – “I guess that is not how Nat would have played it… but it sure was fun.”
Krall has matured throughout her career and Saturday’s performance talked to the romantics in the audience. One elderly couple told me that her music “made them feel as if they were taking a stroll on the beach on a moon-lit evening holding hands.”
As promised, the show was filled with freestyle music. She played and sang with a style and grace. She touched on the greats and also played some of her original music from her latest CD Quiet Nights. When she played her hit “When I Look in Your Eyes”, folks in the audience sang with her. Krall appeared to thoroughly enjoy playing for the crowd.
