Diana Krall is in Melbourne for three concerts this week. Picture: Mark Seliger Source: Supplied
DIANA Krall has a voice blissfully suited to the gentler side of jazz.
Her lovely alto — dark and feathery one moment, husky and mellow the next — latches onto lyrics and caresses them. And in the first of three Melbourne concerts, in the company of a 42-piece orchestra, Krall’s distinctive vocal style was plain for all to hear.
Shimmying on stage with a three-piece combo (Anthony Wilson on guitar, Paul Keller on bass and drummer Karriem Riggins), the Canadian songstress set the mood straight away with Do It Again — a dreamy reverie about turning out lights and holding each other close.
So Nice, a summer samba, wafted through the room like a cool breeze before Krall — golden hair dancing in the light — launched into a luscious version of Let’s Fall In Love.
In each case, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra players — under the baton of Krall’s longtime conductor Alan Broadbent — lent warmly resonant support, which was all the more admirable for its restraint.
Strings and woodwinds swelled for an exquisite version of Lerner and Loewe’s I’ve Grown Accustomed To His Face, and later Burt Bacharach’s The Look of Love, but the effect in both cases was so discreet, so nuanced, it was as if the orchestra was almost sneaking up on the singer without her knowing.
Krall and her band were just as tight. In an extended set, where the lights dimmed to create a jazz club vibe, Keller wove playful bass lines around Exactly Like You, while Krall dug into the bass end of her keyboard for I Was Doing Alright.
Challenging perceptions of aloofness, Krall chatted amiably about “my husband” (musician Elvis Costello) and admitted her twin boys — tucked up in bed at home in New York — were “not big fans of my music”.
That’s OK. Krall had plenty of them at Hamer Hall, especially when she dedicated Let It Rain to Melburnians “doin’ it hard in this warm weather”, rustled through Antonio Jobim’s palmy Quiet Nights and put the foot down for a quick-tempo take on Irving Berlin’s Cheek to Cheek. To finish? A sultry S’Wonderful.
Deep emotional expression might not be the mark of a Diana Krall concert, but the mood she creates — one of sadness shading into happiness — stays with you long after the music has stopped playing.
------------
DIANA KRALL IN CONCERT
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, tonight and tomorrow (February 11 and 12) at 8pm
Rating: ★★★★
No comments:
Post a Comment