SmartHouse listens to contemporary jazzy songstress Diana Krall.
How do you turn the most exciting new jazz singer of recent years into just another cabaret chanteuse? Easy. You set her loose on a bunch of standards and show tunes. Of course, it’s high-class stuff, brilliantly sung and Krall’s phrasing is as impeccable as you’d expect.
But versions of Irving Berlin’s Isn’t this a lovely day, Cole Porter’s From this moment on, Gershwin’s I was Doing Alright and Johnny Mercer’s Day in day out – however sophisticated and skillfully delivered – can’t help sounding like an easy option after 2004’s The Girl In The Other Room, a set of fascinating original material co-written with husband Elvis Costello.
In terms of sound, swinging big band arrangements featuring a full jazz orchestra alternate with a smoky, after-hours quartet, highlighting Krall’s own gifted and mellow piano-playing.
Diana Krall is fast becoming the darling of the high-end hi-fi demonstrator, however, and we suspect this disc will follow in the same footsteps regardless of the musical content.
