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Diana Krall A Night In Paris VERVE 065 369-2

1. I Love Being Here With You
2. Let’s Fall In love
3. ‘Deed I Do
4. The Look of Love
5. East of the Sun
6. I’ve Got You Under My Skin
7. Devil May Care
8. ‘S Wonderful
9. Fly Me To The Moon
10. A Case of You
11. Just the Way You Are
12. Charmed Life
13. Bonus Video – The Look of Love

Diana Krall – Vocals & Piano
Anthony Wilson – Guitar
John Clayton – Bass
Jeff Hamilton – Drums
Tracks 1 to 10 recorded live at the Paris Olympia in 2000

Unlike many of today’s top singers and musicians, Diana Krall thoroughly deserves the phenomenal success she has had to date and my prediction is that we have not heard anything yet! She has an excellent voice with clear diction and good intonation, but more than that she is an excellent jazz piano player. whom, I am sure is going to move on to even greater things. What I find so pleasing about her playing is that every note seems to be selected with greatest care and she seems to have plenty of time to decide what to play whatever the tempo.

In a previous review of a CD that featured a very talented, but unknown lady pianist, I was critical that all the tunes were originals from the trio and rather ethereal originals at that. Her reply to me was "The world doesn’t need another version of ‘All the Things You Are’. She misses the point of course, what she says is a matter of opinion, but if you play nothing that an audience can relate to you are likely to lose them.

The quartet on this album includes Anthony Wilson on guitar, John Clayton on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums and they are the ideal support for her playing and singing as well as playing excellent solos. Personally I could do without the Orchestra, Symphony Orchestras never add a lot to this kind of jazz performance and the difference in the way straight musicians phrase can make it hard to swing. (This is not a criticism of their musical ability, I am sure it is world class, the question is do the genres mix comfortably.)

The programme selection is ideal and I particularly enjoyed the longer than usual piano solos on some of the tracks. I love Being Here with You gets the session off to a great start and Let’s Fall in Love and Deed I Do are delivered with great style. East of the Sun is one of those tunes that I always enjoy and this is a very god version. Fly Me to the Moon moves along nicely at an easy tempo and Michael Brecker appears on Just the Way You Are and his tenor brings another dimension to the record.

If you know someone who likes their jazz easy to understand and enjoy and there are a lot of people who prefer that type of music, this is their ideal Christmas present.

 

Don Mather

 

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