I had the great good fortune to see Diana Krall live two weeks ago as part of her "Glad Rag Doll" concert tour. I had seen her once before in an outdoor setting, but watching and hearing her from 10th row center orchestra seats in a great recital hall was one of the highlights of my musical experience.
The "program" started 30 minutes before the performance with ragtime tunes on a player piano. That transformed into showing cartoons from the 1920's on a big screen at the back of the stage. It was all designed to set the mood for the vaudeville style songs the band would come out with the first half of the program. It was different from Diana's mainstream jazz, but beautifully executed. Featured a lot was her jazz violinist who also played ukelele. I gave up my prejudice toward both of those instruments that night because of the incredible playing. Most of the songs on that album are supposedly from the collection of old 78's her father used to play.
The middle "half" of the concert was Diana playing and singing solo while chatting with and taking requests from the audience. Her band got a 30 minute break while she was on the entire 2+ hours. When the band returned they played more new pieces in just about every genre imaginable. Even though I thought of myself as a die hard jazz purist, her performance softened my heart and ears and I let the new sounds in and found myself enjoying every bit.
Jazz aficionados are not going to like her "Glad Rag Doll" album, and I would be in that camp if it were not for seeing her in person and experiencing the audio visual impact of her concert. Having had that experience I "get" what Diana was really trying to accomplish and applaud her for her efforts. She wanted to dig up and bring to light some of those great songs from the '20s and '30s to the younger generations, and equally important I think she wanted to break out of the captivity of being pigeonholed into just one style of music and show that her talent and creativity transcends those bounds with ease. What came to mind was Duke Ellington's expression that there are only two types of music---good and bad. Whatever Diana Krall plays is in the first category in my opinion.
