Diana Krall: Nanaimo native gets nostalgic, strikes up band for some ’20s, ’30s revelry
By Francois Marchand, Postmedia News February 5, 2013
Read more: http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Diana+Krall+Nanaimo+native+gets+nostalgic+strikes+band+some+revelry/7923724/story.html#ixzz2KMpbOiB5
Eleven studio albums into a career spanning close to two decades, Diana Krall is mutating.
At her sold-out homecoming show in Vancouver, where the Nanaimo-bred superstar jazz singer spends a good chunk of her time with hubby Elvis Costello and their twin sons, Krall was in a nostalgic mood Tuesday night.
The Costello/Krall clan has been especially infatuated with the music of the ’20s and ’30s of late.
First it was Elvis who delved into the early 20th-century American songbook with his National Ransom album a couple of years back, and last fall it was 48-year-old Diana who took a turn re-exploring her father’s old 78 r.p.m. platters on her ragtime era-inspired Glad Rag Doll.
In both cases, producer T-Bone Burnett was at the helm, and you can tell the connection between the two recordings and the live performances that followed are closely intertwined.
For Krall, it meant a stage draped in red with golden clam shell-shaped lights at the front, film backdrops including old animated cartoons, footage of ’20s dancers, sequences from Georges Melies and Fritz Lang films, and an intro featuring actor Steve Buscemi singing When The Curtain Comes Down.
The Buscemi bit, not quite a nod to TV show Boardwalk Empire but close enough, was an awkward way to start, part of the song featuring pre-recorded vocals, which had the crowd confused as to when to start clapping to welcome the singer.
Krall would finally appear to thunderous applause, taking her place behind the piano for We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye.
There would be another odd visual choice, namely showing footage from ’60s puppet show Thunderbirds during Annette Hanshaw’s Ev’rything’s Made For Love, which Krall dedicated to her kids.
Krall would spend more time than usual explaining the origins of some songs, something that obviously made her nervous at first.
She even acknowledged it herself.
“They say I never talk enough and now it’s overkill — ‘Shut up and play already,’” she said. “My husband usually does all the talking. He says hello, by the way. That’s all he says.”
She laughed. And all of a sudden, she relaxed and found her groove.
If her understated, breathy contralto and soft piano stylings have attracted legions of fans and landed her Juno and Grammy glory (she single-handedly brought jazz back to the top categories at both awards ceremonies a decade ago), Tuesday night’s performance was much more band-oriented.
There was Tom Waits’ Temptation, in which Krall led her expert five-piece band into a circus-like jam heavy on the guitar.
Later it would be a stormy and electrifying version of Ray Charles’ Lonely Avenue (written in the ’30s by Doc Pomus) that would wow the audience.
There was no reason anyone should have expected Krall to show up on stage clad in the provocative bordello-inspired nightwear she sports on the cover of Glad Rag Doll (she was wearing a classic black dress/suit), but that bawdy, gritty spirit was certainly there at times.
Still, Krall’s comfort zone vocally remains classic lounge jazz, and fans got a taste of the singer’s traditional style when she took a solo turn at the upright piano for a few songs including a superb Ziegfeld follies-inspired Glad Rag Doll.
“Justin Bieber!?” she exclaimed when a fan in the front row requested a tune from the teen idol.
“I could if I wanted to!” she answered with a defiant grin.
Instead she handed out a rollicking version of Fred E. Ahlert’s I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter, which she covered with Paul McCartney on his standards album Kisses On The Bottom.
Longtime fans may have found some of Krall’s new live elements startling, but the one thing you can never argue with is Krall’s impeccable choice of material, which may be the biggest reason why everyone keeps coming back.
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News
By Francois Marchand, Postmedia News February 5, 2013
VANCOUVER, B.C.; FEBRUARY 5, 2013
Diana Krall in concert at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, B.C., on February 5, 2013.
Photograph by: Steve Bosch , PNG
Photograph by: Steve Bosch , PNG
Read more: http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Diana+Krall+Nanaimo+native+gets+nostalgic+strikes+band+some+revelry/7923724/story.html#ixzz2KMpbOiB5
Eleven studio albums into a career spanning close to two decades, Diana Krall is mutating.
At her sold-out homecoming show in Vancouver, where the Nanaimo-bred superstar jazz singer spends a good chunk of her time with hubby Elvis Costello and their twin sons, Krall was in a nostalgic mood Tuesday night.
The Costello/Krall clan has been especially infatuated with the music of the ’20s and ’30s of late.
First it was Elvis who delved into the early 20th-century American songbook with his National Ransom album a couple of years back, and last fall it was 48-year-old Diana who took a turn re-exploring her father’s old 78 r.p.m. platters on her ragtime era-inspired Glad Rag Doll.
In both cases, producer T-Bone Burnett was at the helm, and you can tell the connection between the two recordings and the live performances that followed are closely intertwined.
For Krall, it meant a stage draped in red with golden clam shell-shaped lights at the front, film backdrops including old animated cartoons, footage of ’20s dancers, sequences from Georges Melies and Fritz Lang films, and an intro featuring actor Steve Buscemi singing When The Curtain Comes Down.
The Buscemi bit, not quite a nod to TV show Boardwalk Empire but close enough, was an awkward way to start, part of the song featuring pre-recorded vocals, which had the crowd confused as to when to start clapping to welcome the singer.
Krall would finally appear to thunderous applause, taking her place behind the piano for We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye.
There would be another odd visual choice, namely showing footage from ’60s puppet show Thunderbirds during Annette Hanshaw’s Ev’rything’s Made For Love, which Krall dedicated to her kids.
Krall would spend more time than usual explaining the origins of some songs, something that obviously made her nervous at first.
She even acknowledged it herself.
“They say I never talk enough and now it’s overkill — ‘Shut up and play already,’” she said. “My husband usually does all the talking. He says hello, by the way. That’s all he says.”
She laughed. And all of a sudden, she relaxed and found her groove.
If her understated, breathy contralto and soft piano stylings have attracted legions of fans and landed her Juno and Grammy glory (she single-handedly brought jazz back to the top categories at both awards ceremonies a decade ago), Tuesday night’s performance was much more band-oriented.
There was Tom Waits’ Temptation, in which Krall led her expert five-piece band into a circus-like jam heavy on the guitar.
Later it would be a stormy and electrifying version of Ray Charles’ Lonely Avenue (written in the ’30s by Doc Pomus) that would wow the audience.
There was no reason anyone should have expected Krall to show up on stage clad in the provocative bordello-inspired nightwear she sports on the cover of Glad Rag Doll (she was wearing a classic black dress/suit), but that bawdy, gritty spirit was certainly there at times.
Still, Krall’s comfort zone vocally remains classic lounge jazz, and fans got a taste of the singer’s traditional style when she took a solo turn at the upright piano for a few songs including a superb Ziegfeld follies-inspired Glad Rag Doll.
“Justin Bieber!?” she exclaimed when a fan in the front row requested a tune from the teen idol.
“I could if I wanted to!” she answered with a defiant grin.
Instead she handed out a rollicking version of Fred E. Ahlert’s I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter, which she covered with Paul McCartney on his standards album Kisses On The Bottom.
Longtime fans may have found some of Krall’s new live elements startling, but the one thing you can never argue with is Krall’s impeccable choice of material, which may be the biggest reason why everyone keeps coming back.
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News
Fuente: www.canada.com
*****
