Diana Krall: Golden Lady/Golden Voice

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A Fan's Notes:

By Amy Redman

The Soaring Eagle Casino, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan-Monday, August 14, 2000.

I arrived an hour early to meet the photographer and pick up press

passes, but already there was a line of people out to the door. For a

minute, I thought I was lost-it was kind of like being in Miami for the

Early Bird Special: all these gray-haired oldsters shuffling around in

shorts and resort wear, waiting impatiently to see the Great Tony Bennett.

All right, to be fair, some of them had actually dressed for the show;

there were a few sequins, an occasional high heel or two. And even though

the show was a double bill: Tony Bennett and Diana Krall-I'm sure most of

these over-60 folk didn't have a clue as to who Diana Krall was. I mean,

my mother was going and she'd never even heard of Diana. (Not that this

necessarily means anything; sometimes she doesn't remember my name, either).

But as I looked around to get my bearings, I noticed that there were

actually music lovers from all walks of life-maybe not your typical

teenaged rock and roll crowd, true-but there were plenty of well-dressed

baby boomers milling around as well as a goodly number of 20-somethings. A

diverse and interesting crowd, I decided, which just goes to show that good

music never goes out of style, and jazz, in particular, seems to span the

generations quite nicely.

As the house lights went down, suddenly the screens on either side of the

stage filled with this giant, unearthly blond "presence".

Diana Krall, the New-Age goddess of jazz had arrived, and for the next 45

minutes or so, I sat back, mesmerized by the sheer talent and charisma of

this accomplished musician. While the physical attractiveness of this

golden diva is shocking enough (she was sheathed in a form-fitting lavender

satin gown that accented her lithe curves admirably), it is her musical

acumen that magnetizes and shines as brightly as her shimmering blond mane.

She possesses a sophistication and finesse far beyond her 30-something

years.

And that voice! As sultry and versatile as any of the great female jazz

vocalists of the past, she is like the reincarnation of Sarah Vaughn, Nancy

Wilson, Dinah Washington and Peggy Lee all rolled into one. Yet she

manages to add her own unique influence and phrasing to the mix, with the

promise of sex in every note, the dream of sensuality in every dulcet tone.

She is cool, classy and understated and yet, somehow manages to draw the

audience completely under her spell within minutes. It's kind of like that

old saying: if you want to get someone's attention, whisper.

Diana started her set with her signature opening number, "I Love Being Here

with You," backed by her competent and talented trio, Ben Wolfe, Don

Faehnle, and Rodney Green, segueing into the Koehler-Arlen classic, "Let's

Fall in Love" without missing a beat. After a seamless rendition of Cole

Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin", she launched into one of my

favorites: "I Don't Know Enough About You," a song written and sung by

Peggy Lee (actually, co-written with her then-husband, Dave Barbour), a

peppy little feminist tune, years ahead of its time.

By now, it was evident the audience was enthralled by Diana's absorbing

performance; the smooth vocals, the graceful piano solos. She was both

delighting her fans and winning over the Tony Bennett aficionados. Her

repertoire of classic tunes from the 30s, 40s and 50s probably didn't

hurt-these were definitely crowd pleasers for the 50 and over set in the

audience.

After trotting out "Devil May Care", a Bob Dorough tune from her 1999 CD,

"When I Look in Your Eyes", Diana eased into a haunting rendition of Hoagie

Carmichael's, "As Time Goes By". Closing my eyes, I could almost imagine

myself in Rik's smokey café in Casablanca, especially with the tinkling of

glasses at the bar directly behind us. (Last row, remember?) This was

followed by a delightful cover of Brooks Bowman's "East of the Sun (and

West of the Moon)", and her set ended (too soon) with Nat King Cole's sassy

"Frim Fram Sauce".

It was a truly memorable evening for this reviewer: a strange mixture of

all the right elements that managed to culminate in something magical and

transcendent. Which is why we listen to music in the first place-because

it awakens something primal in us and carries us off to other times and

other places, making us forget-just for a blessed moment-who we are. And

Diana Krall, the golden lady with the golden voice, is one of the best

vehicles to amnesia that I've encountered in a long, long time.

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