I was in Fort Lauderdale last Thursday and saw/heard Diana Krall. Second time, first was in Wilkes Barre PA after Wallflower cd, this one after her recent one. Two quite different concerts, both outstanding. This one was "jazzy", an upright bass, a drummer, guitarist, fiddle/violinist (and a pianist/vocalist). 5 great musicians on the stage, and a wonderful singer. She is wonderful live. Highly recommended, as equipment reviewers often say. Worth the price of admission.
Man, some of you guys have thin skins! I didn’t think that responses to a post about an artist or a concert experience needed to be limited to posts expressing agreement, but used as an opportunity to discuss and offer reasons for why there is agreement or disagreement. And if one or two posters are less than generous with their comments, so what? I haven’t seen anything particularly “ugly” written about any artist so far. How about everyone be a little more secure with their preferences and opinions. Personally, I don’t particularly like Krall for many of the reasons already stated. For a jazz singer her delivery sounds to me as stylistically forced and way too deliberate; planned. I envision a singer who practices her delivery (interpretation) over and over down to the last little “nuance” and detail with the end result being that there is little sense of the spontaneity and looseness that great jazz singing demands. Pleasant enough and I agree that the stuff that is more pop is more effective, but I think the point is that like others I prefer to listen to singers like London and Horne.
Does anyone know if her live DVD's (Rio and Montreal Jazz Festival) can be purchased in CD or SACD format? My Music Vault does not read DVD or Blue Ray.
Will see her a week from today. She's my wife's favorite. The first time we saw her was at Wolf Trap, she featured a little known musician named Chris Botti, whom we had never heard of before. :)
As often happens here (I gave up trying to explain to myself why) an innocent post about an experience at a live music event turned into a vindictive, ugly, depressing (to me, where is humanity now???) series of opinions. What's the point in that? Keep it to yourself why don't you, do you really think your views and opinions are fact and all others are fantasy? Are you that much of a narcissistic a-hole??? I tend to think you do, which is even more depressing.
Diana Kral is similar to snow queen of Hans Christian Anderson with heart turned to icycle.
With strong accompany of REAL musicians (live in Japan) she is just a place holder in the band just like Pat Barber and Nora Jones or Joni Mitchell. Somehow TV favors her more. I guess buy low and sell high is main contributing factor of her success
I for one like Diana Krall's music. She stays within her range, which is very nice. She doesn't try to do things she isn't capable of or those that are outside her range. I really like that.
As for Shirley Horn. Wow. everytime she came to Los Angeles, I would go see her perform. Quiet small venues. She would be sitting at the bar with a drink between sets talking. Her music was wonderful and we lost a real artist.
And perhaps the uncontrollable impulse to chime in for the sake of adding number of posts to their credit.
All those fans who posted here that Krall CD’s don’t sound as good as her live concert, I urge them to try the XRCD’s. They offer another dimension of her recordings. Sorry to say but I agree that regular CD’s does sound like crap in direct comparison with XRCD’s.
I like her music a lot and really like that live in Paris album. However sometimes I feel like I'm at an audio show when I listen to her music. I feel it's far over played at those types of locations.
Thoughts? Yep. Tearing down well known, beloved artists in favor of the more obscure, at least in the modern sense, makes the naysayers feel like they have a superior musical understanding. Inferiority breeds contempt. 😬
Rpeluso, - Nyro’s dad was a jazz bass player - to me, the connection to Krause is obvious and I’ve stated it already. The only thing that I might have left unsaid is that I think of Krauss as a jazz-tinged pop singer, like Nyro, not the other way around. She belongs with Bette Midler, not Billy Holiday or Maxine Sullivan.
I have several of her Diana's cds .Sometimes you have to be in the mood more on easy listenjng more relaxing . Sometimes a little snsppier like - - PATRICIA Barber who is a very creative artist and has s lot twists and turns in her jazz music and excellent musicians. Cassandra Wilson a lot of people still don't know and has some very good bluesy music.
I love her Live in Paris cd! It's in my regular rotation. I hope she puts out another live recording soon, as I agree with some on this thread that her studio recordings are just "ok".
I saw her live about 10 years ago, with Chris Botti opening. Both put on an outstanding show... the best concert I've attended.
@lalitk... Yes, she has a sultry voice and a come hither quality that grabs my attention when she sticks to Jazz/American Song Book recordings. I think The Girl In The Other Room, one of the first times she ventured away from her comfort zone, was actually a very good album. Shirley Horn and Blossom Dearie are mentioned often as influences, some similarities. Maybe she is "Jazz lite" compared to the purists out there, but whatever she is and does, she does well and I just happen to dig her. I feel the same way about Julie London; not the greatest voice, narrow range, but she did more with what she had than many more naturally gifted singers. Julie London captured an era and style in the '60s with her sultry, smokey voice and her languid vocal style. It was said that "she sang as if she was in one room - with you, and that made all the difference." It really is amazing what Julie London could do with such limited vocal range, but within that range she was pure dynamite and a unique talent.
FWIW, I tried (and own) many of Krall's earlier recordings. They are not really bad, really. And without references I'd probably enjoy them more. I've never heard her live so I can't really comment on here showmanship and whether or not that is additive in a positive way.
What is interesting is that when I want the kind of music that she wants to sing I always reach for Shirley Horn. If you have not heard her do so when you next want a intimate singer/piano player of great talent.
unreceivedogma, I once saw Laura in Central Park, a free concert (not sure they are held any longer), I admire her as a singer, pianist, composer no doubt. But( isn't there always a but?) I don't see the connection between Laura and Diana K. What is it you are saying, if I may ask?
czarivey, thanks for your thoughts/explanation. I can see where our tastes differ, just a fact, no big thing. I find the improvisation less to my liking, so I see why we differ in our views of her. I'm not a big jazz fan, but appreciate that many many are. Thanks again.
She simplifies lots of classic songs and feels like sufficient effort she places to the score, but either insufficient or unrefined effort for improvisation. Everything she sings seems simplified from jazz to simple pop. She seems to me a female Dean Martin that can put some stuff to the show and show off.
PS: I can’t edit my comment above anymore, one last thought: Laura made her first record for Verve when she was 16 years old. Clive Davis signed her to Columbia a year later. She was painfully shy, did the Davis audition with the lights off, the keyboard lit by a small candle.
She burst onto the scene in the mid 60s, and is considered the first female singer songwriter in the way we understand the term today. Without Laura Nyro, Diana Krall would not be the Diana Krall we know.
is she considered a jazz singer? I wonder, she seems pretty versatile, more jazz on some discs, less so on others. Wallflower, a wonderful disc, is anything but jazz, but its still pretty great. In my opinion of course. No one is for everyone, that's clear.
A couple years ago, I bought a couple of Krall LPs to see what the fuss was about.
She felt like Lite Jazz to me. To measured. Too restrained. She left me cold. I sold the LPs.
For someone who blends jazz with gospel, r&b, blues, Broadway, soul, pop and Brill School, and does it with passion and originality, a style uniquely her own, see Laura Nyro. Especially New York Tendaberry, an LP with vocals (from a 20 decibel whisper to a 120 decibel scream) that will test the limits of your system’s performance.
She passed away decades ago from cancer, in her early 50s. There is one live performance recorded at The Bottom Line (sadly closed, I saw Miles Davis, among dozens of others there) in the late 80s that does not quite capture the magic of her live performance, but comes close.
Many of her compositions became pop hits for Three Dog Night, Barbara Streisand, the Association, Blood Sweat & Tears, etc. (Brill School incl Carol King, Janis Ian, Paul Simon, Niel Diamond, Geffen, Boyce & Hart, etc).
She was inducted into the rock ‘n roll hall of fame about a decade ago. Bette Midler did the introduction, burst into tears.
Thanx to the discussion, I just found out she will be in my area on Friday, going to get tickets now. I have several cd's but always like to hear artist live before I form any opinions
@rpeluso, thanks for the info on the current show/tour. Will be seeing her next Sunday in Charlotte and really looking forward to the line up you cited. Saw her three times in San Diego back in the 90s at an outdoor venue named Humphrey's by the Bay--very intimate with 1400 seats (and we were typically in the first 7-8 rows) and of course, awesome acoustics. The first time, it was just a trio of her, Christian McBride and Russell Malone which was IMO the perfect showcase for her voice and piano chops (each of those guys are pretty remarkable in their own right). In each of the next two shows, a quartet/quintet set up. The last time was in 2000 in Ft. Lauderdale in a much larger, indoor venue--decent show, but not a great venue (as compared Humphrey's). Her popularity had grown by that time so she was playing larger houses and more broader appeal (IOW, less "purist") jazz and standards. Looking forward to seeing her next week and hopefully getting a bit of that throwback vibe!
+2 for the Live in Paris release. I have a couple of Diana Krall CD's. I find the studio release......ok but the live CD is great in my opinion. I have also seen her live and very much enjoyed the show.
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