Place des Arts... makes me as happy as a little girl! On Friday night... to end the month
of May on a delicious and soothing note I experienced Lady K in all her smoothness...
up close and very personal. I lucked-out and had front-row seats. I observed and was
mesmerized by her hand movement and ease in which she fingered those keys. Krall
filled the newly renovated hall to the balconies and beyond, providing many with a cozy
early summer soiree.
With a five-man band arranged in a line across the stage — bass, drums, guitars,
fiddle, and organ, including a full ensemble orchestra — Krall both defied and fulfilled
expectations that she would lean heavily on her brand new album, 'Wallflower', a return
to pop classics after her many years of jazz devotion. The album was coming, but first,
there was a Krall original called 'Just Couldn't Say Goodbye', a bit of swinging ragtime
that proved she's not out of the jazz club yet…and what a jazz club.
Across the front of the stage were set old-fashioned, shell illumination lights,
ensconced in vintage radio consoles, but the real mood was set by a casual array of
candles on the floor. Suspended above the stage were glowing, old-time, circular
microphones, and a screen backdrop kept up a rapid run of vintage visual images. Very
surreal!
Krall calmed things down with the quiet 'Just Like a Butterfly Caught in the Rain'
then, claiming to like songs about weather, did the light swing of 'Sunny Side of the
Street' and the sweet and soft 'Let it Rain'. With a big bash of the drums she and the
band sashayed into 'Temptation' by Tom Waits, and this often flavorful tune provided
a real chance for the band members to show their stuff.
It's a mark of Krall's supreme ability as a player and bandleader that she can hand the
stage over to her talented band members any time she wants, then, with a breath into
the microphone or a flick of her blond hair, take that stage right back and settle into
a masterful solo of her own. And just to show how she could own that stage, the band
melted into the wings and Krall did a few by herself, including 'Let's Face the Music and
Dance', 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon', and some marvelous jazz improvisation on
Joni Mitchell's 'A Case of You' and Fats Waller's 'I'm Gonna Sit Right Down' (and Write
Myself a Letter).
Back came the band to do some of the Wallflower album, starting with 'California
Dreamin', featuring varying tempos and Krall moving over to electric piano, then Jim
Croce's 'Operator' and Elton John's 'Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word'.
It was back to her jazz roots with Nat King Cole's 'Just You, Just Me' complete with
galvanizing solos from guitarist Anthony Wilson and violinist Stuart Duncan, then
'Indeed I Do'. By the time Krall did her own 'I'm a Little Mixed Up', the film on the backdrop
behind her of a belly dancer and several wildly leering men was so distracting that it
was hard to concentrate on the band. Diana Krall needs no juicing up from visuals. Just
let us see and hear the woman play.
After a 90 minute set, a cheering standing ovation brought Krall and her band back for
a stirring two more numbers... to feed the soul. Diana Krall can take her piano, her voice,
and now this crackerjack band through any music she wants. It was rock, pop, country,
folk, and lots of jazz in Montreal Friday night!
* From Where I Sit!
www.fromwhereisit.co
Place des Arts
May 29, 2015
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