Diana Krall
Diana Krall recalls that in her first conversation with the great composer/arranger, Johnny Mandel, she told him that she was both a singer and a pianist. Mr. Mandel replied, "Oh, so you're a hyphenate! Are you a singer-pianist or are you a pianist-singer?" Diana the singer needs Diana the pianist as an accompanist; but Diana the pianist wants to play. And they're both...I mean, she's both...that is, Diana Krall is an extraordinary new artist whether singing or playing...or both!

Diana says, "My favorite singers all have played piano: Dinah Washington, Roberta Flack, Shirley Horn, Andy Bey, Aretha Franklin, Sarah Vaughan and especially Carmen McRae. She has really been important to me, and is one of my biggest influences. And Nat Cole was the ULTIMATE. Nat was the only `hyphenate' I know who was extraordinarily influential as both a singer and pianist. He could turn his body and sing incredible songs to his audience, and at the same time play unbelievable piano! It was like he was two persons performing at the same time. I hope that one day I will be able to discover the secret to doing this naturally."

She's already "doing it" quite nicely on this new album. Some songs are more about the vocal. Some songs are more about the piano. And she plays and sings always with heart, and a true feeling for jazz. She's bluesy in a groove. She's painterly on a ballad. She knows what the lyrics are about. And, fundamentally -- above all -- she swings.

Diana comes from the British Columbia town of Nanaimo, where she was surrounded by music and musicians. Her father and mother play piano, and the whole family played and sang on Sundays at her grandmother's house. "We'd all take turns. I can't remember not playing." She studied classical piano but played jazz in the school band with bassist-teacher Bryan Stovell. Diana's first gig was at age fifteen in a Nanaimo restaurant, and she's been playing ever since.

That she became hyphenated was only natural. Diana's first inspiration was the first great singer-pianist, Fats Waller. "I was raised on Fats Waller. My Dad is a record collector, and he must have every Fats Waller recording made on 78s, LPs, and CDs. Fats was the first person I heard play piano and sing. I starting playing his repertoire when I was a kid. I tried to learn all his tunes and to play and sing at the same time."

Diana studied for a while on a Vancouver Jazz Festival scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and later returned home to B.C. She became friends with Jeff Hamilton and Ray Brown when they performed in the Northwest and B.C. They encouraged Diana to venture down to Los Angeles -- where a Canadian Arts Council grant enabled her to study with pianist Jimmy Rowles. He's become her musical "grandpa" -- and, being a pianist-singer himself -- inspired her to sing more.

Hamilton's musical partner, bassist John Clayton, also befriended Diana, and they often performed together as a trio. Hamilton and Clayton are featured on Diana's earlier album, Stepping Out -- with liner notes by Ray Brown. "Jeff, John, Ray and Jimmy are very important to me. I've been very fortunate to work with them and learn from them, and they continue to be very encouraging and supportive of me and my musical career."

Diana returned to Canada from Los Angeles in 1984 and settled in Toronto, where she studied with bassist-pianist Don Thompson. She came to New York in 1990 -- but she performed most often in Boston with a trio that included bassist Whit Browne and drummer Klaus Suonsaari.

It may seem a bit curious that as a pianist, so many of Diana's mentors -- Stovell, Thompson, Brown, and Clayton -- play bass. She says, "I have many pianistic influences, but I perform with bass players in duo and trio settings. They are my left hand. My bass mentors are truly my teachers. They have been the voice of leadership and experience, and I have learned so much music from them."

It's all the more enjoyable that she's joined on this new album by the Master and the Future of the bass -- Ray Brown and Christian McBride. Diana was asked to suggest other ideal players for her album, and she said immediately, "Stanley Turrentine" -- and she got him! Diana also asked for drummer, Lewis Nash. "I'm especially grateful to Lewis for his creative input and encouragement on this recording."

Diana and her producer, Tommy LiPuma, carefully selected all the songs. Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby is an R&B classic of Louis Jordan and a good groove for solos by Turrentine, Brown, and Diana.

Only Trust Your Heart is usually played as a bossa, but the Latin feel expressed through the drums of Lewis Nash is much more subtle. Diana's piano is very gentle and her vocal is nothing less than sensuous.

Diana first heard I Love Being Here With You -- a Peggy Lee tune -- on an Ernestine Anderson recording with Ray Brown and saxophonist Red Holloway. But it's Ray and saxophonist Stanley Turrentine who are definitely here with Diana!

Broadway is a tune that is often presented as a "hard-hitting" feature -- but Diana and Christian and Lewis take a much more relaxed approach. Lewis' brush work is especially extraordinary.

The Folks Who Live on the Hill was suggested by Tommy. Diana's playing sounds quite pastoral, and Christian's bass is again so melodically fresh. "It came to me that this tune is about my Mom and Dad. They have a house on a hill with a veranda and a beautiful mountain view. I can see the view and the love they have for each other."

I've Got the World on a String comes from the jazz-inspired composer Harold Arlen, and offers the consummate expression of Diana -- the hyphenate. Her singing and playing are equally represented in superlative fashion. She says, "Harold Arlen is one of my favorite songwriters. I'd like to do an album of all Harold Arlen tunes."

Squeeze Me is one of Duke Ellington's songs that Diana heard sung by Betty Rochˇ. "She's another vocal influence of mine. She sang it very seductively, and I thought it would be nice to take this one really slow." Ray's soulful bass compliments Diana's sultry interpretation.

All Night Long is a song Diana heard on a recording by Nancy Wilson and George Shearing. It's a song about dreaming, and the fact that she's recorded songs she likes with musicians she admires is a dream realized for Diana Krall.

CRS Craft is the only outright blues, and the only totally instrumental selection on the album. It's a Ray Brown original, and is based on the changes of "Night Mist Blues" by Ahmad Jamal. "I'm highly influenced by Ahmad's work -- especially the trio that included Israel Crosby and Vernel Fournier. As a unit they were one complete voice. I'd like to create that feeling with my trio, and then have the addition of vocals on top."And so is this new album from singer-pianist...or is she a pianist-singer? Aw, why worry? It's enough that she's delightful Diana Krall.

-- -- from the liner notes by

Michael Bourne Host, "Singers Unlimited" WBGO-FM Newark

 Diana Krall's page at MCA

 Frim Fram Sauce (323 kb .au)

Go back to Dragon's Laire

This page is hosted by . Get your own free home page.