The slightly enigmatic 57-year-old jazz singer is currently in the midst of a brief run of U.S. shows, before spending her July overseas in Europe. She hasnโt performed as much as some artists have since live music has returned, but itโs still comforting to know that she was surrounded by music during her time in lockdown with her husband, Elvis Costello.
Truthfully, youโd think that you were walking into a modern-day Bob Dylan show. There was no elaborate stage setup, cameras technically werenโt allowed, and the name on the bill was going to be propped behind a grand pianoโnaturally. At about 8:15 p.m, Krall, clad in a black dress, marched straight over to her stage right piano and performed a few bars of โWhere or Whenโ from the โBabes in Armsโ musical, before the band kicked in to support her on โI Donโt Know Enough About You,โ a Peggy Lee song.
โAll or Nothing at All,โ made famous by Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra (yes, Tommyโs brother), was one of the earliest examples we had of how the instrumentation was going to be executed. After Dianaโs first set of vocals, jazz guitarist Anthony Wilson did some masterful work on his Monteleone jazz electric, which looks staggeringly like a Gretsch from a distance. Then, there was upright bassist Robert Hurst, once a member of Jay Lenoโs “Tonight Show” band, thumping and plucking away. On the drums was Karriem Riggins, who more times than not, mainly kept time, but did get at least three opportunities to rip out solos that had all eyes glued on him.
The solos plucked, banged, strummed, and slid out by Dianaโs backing band were mostly sandwiched between her vocals. There was only one solo โslid out,โ which was when Robert Hurst took a bow to his bass during โEast of the Sun (and West of the Moon),โ which was once recorded by Tommy Dorsey and an up-and-coming Jersey boy named Frank Sinatra.
Krall knows damn well who she is, but her ego is far from over-the-top. She didnโt have the gigantic spotlight set on her, while the rest of the band was tucked away in some sort of dimmer light. Every light above was exactly the same amount of dim, except for in between songs, when Diana would either introduce the next song, or just reveal secrets, like how her husband is currently working with Burt Bacharach orโฆ
โI donโt know if Iโm supposed to tell you that,โ she admitted.
It was a great way to open โThe Look of Love,โ written by the iconic songwriter and the late Hal David in 1967. It originally appeared in the 1967 version of โCasino Royale,โ long before Daniel Craig or Chris Cornell made names for themselves. With that factoid in mind, itโs a struggle to not help but wonder what a Krall-ified version of Cornellโs โYou Know My Nameโโfrom the 2006 โRoyaleโโmight sound like.
Like any Krall show, the rest of her setlist was mostly wall-to-wall, modern-to-an-extent jazz standards. โMore Than You Know,โ which appears to have not been played since 2015, was described by her as โquite nice.โ Her rendition of โI Just Found Out About Love,โ made famous by Nat King Cole, was based on a version she heard by her friend, the late Shirley Horn. And not that itโs a jazz classic, but Joni Mitchellโs โAmelia,โ where the bandโs contributions were subtle at best, was a great contribution, especially considering how it was followed by Irving Berlinโs โHow Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky).โ
Closing up Krall and companyโs main set was โCheek to Cheek,โ which had a much faster tempo than the versions that most of us know and love. You know, โHeavenโฆIโm in Heaven.โ She introduced her band one last timeโa ritual she practiced in between many of her songsโand made her closing statement: โItโs so great to be out here tonight, and youโre always in my heart,โ
Or so, we thought those were her final remarks.
Before her encore of Al Dubinโs โBoulevard of Broken Dreams,โ (no, not the Green Day version, you little punk rocker), Krall began rambling about how she enjoys listening to โsome radio stations.โ โWeโre not playing anything we heard on the radio, Iโm just saying,โ
No need to.
This article appears in Apr 21-27, 2022.



