Oh boy. What a wonderful night out. We got to see Diana Krall on Friday night at the Club Caprice in Redondo Beach. With her was Russell Malone and John Clayton. You know her history: Ray Brown saw her perform and introduced her to Jimmy Rowles. She studied with Rowles and later Alan Broadbent. Her studies at Berklee helped, I'm sure, but that vocal talent is something that just can't be taught. She's a natural. It's a cool and detached vocal style that shows all the confidence in the world, yet there's not a trace of anything other than genuine motives. Ya know what I'm getting at? Nothing that would indicate commercial motives, just pure rtistry and a love of what she does. As she played all evening, I couldn't help noticing the fluid and clean right hand articulation that she shares with Alan Broadbent.
The audience showed more excited approval on the numbers that have become familiar to them through the radio; isn't that sorta normal? "All Or Nothing At All," "Frim Fram Sauce," and "Route 66" brought the most recognition.
Clayton and Diana Krall go back a ways; Clayton is a protege of Ray Brown's, and she told the audience that she and Clayton have been like siblings ever since she first came to L.A. to study with Rowles. Clayton stood behind the piano in a position to be able to watch the keyboard. I've been in the audience several other times when Clayton (who is a real personable guy) has told the audience that he feels more comfortable watching the pianist's left hand, although he doesn't rely on it. Russell Malone sat on a chair about 5 feet from Krall's back; when she introduced him, Diana mentioned the film Kansas City and said, "Russell, who was the character that you portrayed?" He leaned over to a microphone and replied, "A guitar player."
The set went about an hour and a half. There was an encore, purposefully saved, no doubt, "Peel Me A Grape." The audience loved it, of course, and they've heard it quite a lot on the radio. She inserted an ad-lib near the end that gave me a big kick, since it updates the lyrics.
The usual lyric ends one phrase with: "When I say, "Do it," jump to it."
She changed that to: "When I say, "Do it," ...hmm hmm hmm hmm."
The audience loved that one.
And where the tune usually ends with: " I'm getting hungry, peel me a grape."
She used instead: "I'm getting hungry, a Range Rover will do."
I got a big kick out of that.
The session also included "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me," "Gentle Rain," "This Can't Be Love," "Lost Mind," "Ghost Of A Chance." The advantage of catching a live performance like this one is that they do a few longer solos. To start "Gentle Rain," Clayton took a long dramatic bowed solo that ended on the lowest string. Russell Malone began "Route 66" with a long swinging blues guitar solo based on "St. Louis Blues."
My favorite from the CD is "Lost Mind," and when she introduced it she said it was from "The poet of the blues, Percy Mayfield." They performed it quite like the recording, but she stretched out with a long bluesy piano solo that showed off her (at times) powerful two-hand approach. And there, as with most of her whole body of work, she made obvious use of contrasts in volume to control the session and to keep your ear where it
should be. Singing and playing loud and low, then soft, high, and delicate, Diana Krall brings something fresh to today's jazz scene. She's captured the hearts and minds of people like me, and it looks like she's captured the pocketbooks of a lot of folks as well.