Diana Krall - Live in Paris
In 1996 this artist broke into the scene in a big way with her debut album and Nat Cole tribute CD entitled "All for You". By 1999 she had been thrice nominated for Grammys, and had won one for Best Jazz Vocal-counting among her achievements a best Album nomination - the first time a Jazz album featured in this category in 25 years ! Diana has a Platinum album and her latest "Look Of Love", just went quintuple Platinum (4/10/02) in Canada. Recently, Diana toured and was dual billed with Tony Bennett. As a Canadian Jazz influence in the tradition of Oscar Peterson, Diana was a piano prodigy "discovered" by her mentor (and Peterson sideman of long standing) bassist Ray Brown. Diana has discussed her piano influences, and has mentioned and exhibits "touches" from the likes of: Jimmy Rowles (who encouraged her to add singing to her piano work), Nat Cole, Bill Evans, Monty Alexander and at her recent (Easter weekend) Radio City Music Hall appearance, she admitted to and recommended listening daily to that "towering" virtuoso of Jazz piano- Art Tatum. It's the height of understatement to say she's got a fine way to treat a Steinway. This "dynamo from Nanaimo" - British Columbia, was blessed with an embarrassment of riches by her creator: piano chops to beat the band- to say nothing of making it swing like hell; a voice that has been called a smoky blend of honey and scotch-alternately sweet, raspy, bluesy, lyrical and scatting lying perhaps somewhere between Sarah Vaughn and Carmen McRae. Last, but not least, Diana has a face that seems to be without a flaw that the camera loves from any distance or angle and at all times. The statuesque Ms. Krall might easily have used her lesser talents to become a successful fashion model, as it is Dianas' looks make her a natural for a visual medium like DVD.
I was fortunate enough to have attended 2 live performances by Ms. Krall and to have met the gracious performer on one of those occasions.
Armed with this knowledge, I recently got the Diana Krall DVD, it is simply put FAN TAS-TIC, superbly filmed, with great audio (use your Stereo Receiver preferably with Dolby 5.1 or if necessary the DVD players' Headphone jack) and extremely representative of what seeing a live show of hers (with a very tight group of sidemen) is like.
Camera placement is always right - following soloists and big band accents perfectly. This effort was very well thought out and edited. Visually artful- the opening scenes of Paris evoke the concert feel - an anticipation of opening night- from the Eiffel Towers rotating beacon to the chiaroscuro Notre Dame cathedral. Later, scenes of Parisian parks in the fall are used to great effect, and other night scenes with Diana traveling on a rainy Paris night.
In the Audio department- Dianas' sextet includes a quintet of skillful sidemen: Jeff Hamilton on the drums (of "LA Four" - also played with Monty Alexander, among many others) Paulinho DaCosta on percussion, (who played with Ella, Joe Pass and others), John Clayton is on Bass- and he solos superbly once even bowing his bass ala Slam Stewart on East of the Sun. Anthony Wilson is great on Electric Guitar- creating delicious dialogs with Diana on a number of the 15 tunes and 2 encores on the DVD. Wilson, cultivates a sound that is sometimes reminiscent of Joe Pass esp. on the standard "Pick Yourself Up" which has a very up tempo, 1-2, swing feel. John Pisano on acoustic Guitar does great work throughout but is a standout on a Jobim flavored version of Gershwin's "S'Wonderful"- and several others. Alan Broadbent a Bill Evans piano "disciple", conducts many of the orchestra backed numbers and the session succeeds admirably at combining an orchestra subtly w/o overpowering the smaller Jazz group, which often ventures out on its' own. Guest conductor Claus Ogerman is a force in Kralls latest album and he's legendary for work done with Tom Jobim, Frank Sinatra and Barbara Streisand. The Parisian audience knows how to turn up the quiet - it gets quieter than a mute church mouse - and stays that way for the whole show. I think I may have heard 1 cough about 80% of the way into the disc. The Parisians never fail to applaud with gusto when the time is right and they don't miss anyone's solos.
These 130 very well spent minutes include the "unexpected" ( if you haven't seen her on tour) tunes "Cry Me A River" and the poignantly lyriced Joni Mitchell tune "A Case of You", complete with that tunes reference to her native Canada. I leave it to you to find the many musical quotes that Diana weaves into her music like: "Love Me or Leave Me", "Cocktails for Two" or "Mona Lisa". Also included: rehearsal footage, and 2 "music videos" not the first Jazz music videos (remember Dave Brubecks flying piano ? or Tony Bennetts recent MTV video ?) but probably the only recent ones since. To sum it up (literally) $[money] plus a few bucks shipping from Amazon and that totals about a third of a live show ticket- a bargain indeed.
Great stuff if you are a Jazz listener, non-jazz listener or even a musical fence sitter. Not to be missed. If you see the DVD and want more Diana without the band - see her on the road and or look for her other CD's. If you are still disappointed- check your pulse. Enjoy !
-Bruce
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