***The SHM-CD will include, along with the 13
tracks (12 tracks of the US issue scheduled for March 31 release on the
Verve label plus the bonus track "I See Your Face Before Me"), an
exclusive bonus DVD including the clip of the title song "Quiet
Nights", filmed in Rio de Janeiro's Jardim Botânico (Botanic Garden)
last October (2008). Such DVD shall not be mistaken with the "Live in
Rio" DVD, scheduled for release next May. The high
quality SHM-CD format features enhanced audio quality through the use
of a special polycarbonate plastic. Using a process developed by JVC
and Universal Music Japan discovered through the joint companies'
research into LCD display manufacturing, SHM-CDs feature improved
transparency on the data side of the disc, allowing for more accurate
reading of CD data by the CD player laser head. SHM-CD format CDs are
fully compatible with standard CD players.
###The UK edition includes two bonus video performances and digital download.
Webmaster's Special Notes: For what
may be a limited time only, please check out the video which talks
about the making of this album, here: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid7012608001
Also, watch the videoclip of Jobim's "Quiet Nights" (aka "Corcovado") in a new "dark" arrangement by Claus Ogerman:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m34J5HGZ2ZU10U
CD EXTRAS:
Japan-CD_Liner.jpg
US-CD Track_Details.png
Orchestra-personnel.png
Thanks.png (Special thanks from Diana Krall)
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Promo-Poster-Brazil.jpg
(an advertising poster for the CD released by Universal/Brazil - but
which contains the mistake "Recorded Live in Rio de Janeiro"!)
Promo-Poster-Germany.jpg (an advertising poster for the CD released by Universal/Germany - mentioning arrangements by Claus Ogerman.)
Olympia_Poster.jpg (an advertising poster for the CD released by Universal/France - mentioning the live concerts at the Olympia in Paris, France.)
[Above: Advertising and purchase download
info for Krall's "Quiet Nights" as seen through the iTunes interface on
the iPhone 3G S.
The album is available to download either through the iTunes Store
software on a computer or directly on an iPhone/iPod touch running the
iTunes Application]
MAGAZINE ARTICLES:
German "JazzEcho" Magazine: click on the thumbnails below to see
full-sized scans of the magazine cover and article pages -
UK "jazzwise" Magazine June 2009, "'It's All About
Tempo' - Diana Krall - From Barack to Bossa and Beyond" - click on the
thumbnail below to see full-sized scan of the magazine cover -
PRESS MATERIAL:
The below text was taken from press release material for a concert
given by Diana Krall on August 9, 2008 at Pala Casino Spa Resort in
Pala, CA:
[. . . .] Krall is the first to credit the musical team she assembled –
her loyal quartet, ace producer Tommy LiPuma, engineer Al Schmitt plus
legendary arranger Claus Ogerman – for much of the seductive power on
Quiet Nights. But there’s a deeper, palpable sense of maturity that she
brought to the recording as well. “Most of my singing and playing on
the album is really just first or second takes. ‘You're My Thrill,’ was
a second take – “Too Marvelous,” first take.”
“She’s completely matured,” says Tommy LiPuma, who should know, having
first worked with Krall in 1994. “Even in the past few years. She
approaches her vocal phrasing much more like an instrumentalist than a
straight singer. It’s in her reading of the lyrics, and the timbre of
her voice, much more misty like Peggy Lee in her mature period.” (“I
didn't want to over sing -- I was drawing also from Julie London very
strongly on this album,” Krall confesses, noting that such influences
are not always conscious on her part. “It just came out that way.”)
As such, the Brazilian focus of Krall’s new album could not have been a
more natural next step. “She's been very sympathetic to this music for
a long time,” notes LiPuma. “When we did The Look of Love, we were very
much leaning in the bossa nova direction. Quiet Nights is really a
celebration of this music. Diana sings three Brazilian classics, she
rhythmically turned four standards into that style, and three ballads.
So really there are ten songs on the album of which seven are just
straight up bossa novas.”
It makes sense that Quiet Nights (also the English name of the bossa
nova classic “Corcovado” that is the title track) draws much of its
musical spirit from the land that puts the “carnal” into its annual
Carnaval celebration. “I was inspired to do this record because of my
trip last year to Brazil,” says Krall, who returned to Rio de Janeiro
to shoot a concert for a new DVD release. “Then I just kept going back
and found that everywhere you go you still hear the sounds of Jobim and
bossa nova.”
For those who may not remember or weren’t yet around, Brazil’s bossa
nova wave (literally “new bump” or “new way” in Portuguese) was the
widely popular musical style, based on the country’s traditional samba
rhythms, that swept up from the sidewalk cafes of Rio in the early ‘60s
and seduced the entire planet with its hypnotic, swaying beats, sultry
melodies, and new, exciting harmonies – all with generous room for jazz
improvisation. Antonio Carlos Jobim (who composed “Quiet Nights” and
“The Girl from Ipanema”) and Joao Gilberto (“Este Seu Olhar”) are two
of the pioneers of the music, revered as national heroes in Brazil to
this day.
“It’s their standards – even the kids know all the songs,” says Krall.
“In concert, I started singing “Este Seu Olhar” and the audience just
opened their mouths and sang along – like a choir! It’s in their blood.”
Claus Ogerman was the arranger on many of bossa nova’s first wave of
recordings, working with the likes of Jobim and Gilberto, as well as
Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz and Bill Evans. That he pulled himself out of
semi-retirement in Munich to work on Quiet Nights says much of his
respect for – and enjoyment working with – Krall.
“I think Claus really fell in love with her the first time around,”
says LiPuma, who introduced the two in 2000. “He had sort of stopped
doing new projects except composing his own music, piano concertos,
violin concertos and such. Now, I've worked with Claus since the early
'70s – on his own recordings, with Hank Jones and Michael Brecker – a
Joao Gilberto album in 1977 (Amoroso) which is one of Diana’s favorite
albums. But he still says that The Look of Love (Krall’s 2001
multi-platinum success) was probably the best album that he had ever
been involved with. So he’s very conscious of what she is capable of
doing.”
Ogerman’s arrangements are as defining an element on Quiet Nights as
any other, adding an astonishing level of sophistication to its mood
and languid flow. There are moments when time slows to the point that
normally momentary emotions have a chance to collect and be fully
expressed. Ogerman’s challenge was to find a fresh, ear-catching
approach to familiar territory. “Claus has worked on a lot of these
tunes before,” LiPuma says. “But for the most part he approached them
much differently. He emphasized the minor chord side-- slightly darker
on certain things, like ‘Quiet Nights.’ Diana has complete confidence
in him and just gave him total freedom.”
Krall laughs relating how Ogerman jokingly understated his
contribution. “Claus told me, ‘It's a gloomy string orgy’ – he has a
very dry sense of humor. There was a lot of him saying, ‘I've written
these things a hundred times, now I'm gonna really do something crazy.
And some of the arrangements he did are pretty wild."
“When we did ‘Walk On By,’ he said ‘Ja, I think this is gonna be good.’
And then we listened to those French horns playing the Burt Bacharach
melody? We all had a meltdown. There's a lot of space with just the
orchestra playing. It's reminiscent of Ravel's ‘Bolero’ and so
beautiful I didn't want to fill it up with a jazz solo. I refused to
play piano in some of those parts because I wanted to leave the space
and let the arrangements do their thing.”
Krall confirms that, in a manner that would satisfy the most pure jazz
sensibility, Quiet Nights was built from the band up – meaning that
each tune began as a quartet performance, featuring longtime sidemen
guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist John Clayton, and drummer Jeff
Hamilton (in a scene where things change fast and often, it says a lot
that Krall has forged such uncommonly lasting relationships – including
her backup, her producer and her arranger.)
“The trust I have with Claus is complete. We met in New York, where I
played him 25 tunes and from there we edited it down to 15. He wrote
the arrangements and after that there was no editing, no changes.”
LiPuma describes how the recording process continued: “Claus wrote the
charts and then we did the rhythm tracks to his specifications. But it
wasn’t like it was a routine – Diana loves going in there with the
quartet. She's been at this a while and has a certain manner of doing
things. She knows that it’s about trying to find the groove. She feels
much more comfortable in doing it with just a quartet, then bringing in
the strings and so forth afterwards.”
REVIEWS:
Diana Krall: "Quiet Nights" (Verve)
by Stephen Holden
New York Times, March 30, 2009
"Quiet Nights" is the Diana Krall record that pop traditionalists have
been craving for eight years, ever since "The Look of Love," her dreamy
collection of bossa nova-flavored ballads catapulted her career to a
commercial pinnacle. When Ms. Krall went on to test her wings, first as
a singer-songwriter hybrid of Joni Mitchell and Sheryl Crow, then as a
'60s-style Las Vegas swinger, her CD sales plummeted. "Quiet Nights" is
the record of swoon music she had to make to recoup her losses.
The sound and style are the same as for "The Look of Love," with Claus
Ogerman's billowing strings and woodwinds conjuring a romantic
atmosphere with film-noir overtones. Ms. Krall's supple keyboard solos
trickle in and out of the orchestration like pianistic pillow talk. She
has lowered her voice to a husky near-murmur, as though she were
luxuriating in the afterglow of passion on tangled sheets. The
forerunners for this excursion into soft-focus eroticism are the ballad
albums of Peggy Lee and Julie London.
"Quiet Nights" mostly plays it safe. What can anybody add to the Jobim
songs "The Boy from Ipanema" and "Quiet Nights" that Frank Sinatra
didn't four decades ago in his classic album, "Francis Albert Sinatra
and Antonio Carlos Jobim," also orchestrated by Mr. Ogerman? Ms.
Krall's attitude throughout the record sounds disengaged to the point
of sleepiness. Since "The Look of Love" the substance of her voice has
noticeably diminished.
That said, "Quiet Nights" is still a gorgeous wallow in high-gloss pop
romanticism. Its two great cuts, "Where or When," which rides in the
same waves that propelled "Dancing in the Dark" from "The Look of
Love," and a very slow, throbbing "You're My Thrill," keep the album
where it wants to be: in bed, with the perfect lover.
On Tuesday at 1 p.m. Ms. Krall and a 32-piece orchestra will perform a
free concert at the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center.
* * *
by Steve Greenlee
Boston Globe, March 30, 2009
The line between dreamy and sleepy is a fine one, and many jazz singers
have fallen on the wrong side of it when attempting bossa nova. Diana
Krall, however, negotiates it skillfully on "Quiet Nights," her first
album of all bossas. It probably has a lot to do with her honeyed
voice, her laid-back delivery, and her experience -- she has 11 albums
and 15 years of recording under her belt. Here she's backed by
guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist John Clayton, drummer Jeff Hamilton,
percussionist Paulinho Da Costa, and her own piano playing, plus an
orchestra conducted by Claus Ogerman. Krall's voice shimmers on 10
familiar tunes -- some written as bossa novas, some rearranged as such.
No surprise to hear the Antonio Carlos Jobim staples "Quiet Nights" and
"The Girl from Ipanema" (done as "The Boy from Ipanema"). The
unexpected pleasures are hearing Krall recast "Too Marvelous for
Words," "Walk on By," and "Guess I'l l Hang My Tears Out to Dry" in a
Brazilian mold.
* * *
by Bill Brotherton
Boston Herald, March 30, 2009
The best that can be said about Krall's 12th album is that it sets a
mood. Sadly, it's more snoozy than the intimate, sensuous one she was
aiming for. As always, she's in great voice and her piano playing, when
it isn't drowned out by grandiose arrangements, is impressive. Krall's
at her peak when there are no strings attached, like on her crowning
moments, "Live in Paris" and the Nat Cole tribute "All for You." But in
many ways this is a more mature take on 2001's "The Look of Love," her
dullest album. If she or hubby Elvis don't have time to read to their
twins at bedtime, just play "Quiet Nights"; the kids'll be in dreamland
in no time.
* * *
Diana Krall: Quiet Nights (Verve)
by Jeff Simon
Buffalo News, March 29, 2009
The game is up on that great old torch ballad "You're My Thrill."
Listen to Diana Krall do it here, with orchestrations by Claus Ogerman.
Then listen to Joni Mitchell's version on her masterpiece "Both Sides
Now" with equally sumptuous -- but far more beautiful -- string
arrangements by Vince Mendoza. You'll not only be struck immediately by
how much Krall seems to be trying to imitate the cigarette-baked voice
of Mitchell, you'll be bowled over by how much deeper and more
beautiful Mitchell sounded. By now, Krall is one of the "standards"
that music lives by. People love her for obvious reasons. She comes to
Artpark on June 10 and nothing short of unnatural or natural disaster
will stop the Krallians from crawling there if they absolutely had to.
(All things being equal, they'll go upright and adoring.) This isn't a
jazz record, it's a jazz-influenced pop record -- bossa novas and torch
songs and Great American Songbook classics "lite" to facilitate the
consumption of brie and chablis and facilitate romance for those whose
record collections don't include Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald and,
well, Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." It's certainly pretty music with
pretty strings and Krall singing as breathily as she can. It's best not
to begrudge the success of those whose whole careers seem to point
directly at so many greater artists -- and Krall's does.
* * *
by Bob Karlovits
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, March 29, 2009
Diana Krall's "Quiet Nights" is a gorgeous album, but the compliments
stop there. Taking a cue from the success of 2001's "The Look of Love,"
Krall and arranger extraordinaire Claus Ogerman have put together
another collection of beautiful songs including "Where or When," "I've
Grown Accustomed to Your Face," "Walk on By" and the title song.
Ogerman's arrangements are tremendous, as is expected, and Krall sings
the songs with a lushness that is almost sizzling in its sexiness. But
she shows little of her skills at the piano or range in her voice. Her
solos are short and restrained. So, too, is the work of a great rhythm
section with Anthony Wilson on guitar, John Clayton on bass, Jeff
Hamilton on drums and Paulinho da Costa on percussion. Players of this
caliber deserve a bigger role, but here they are overwhelmed by
Ogerman's strings. This is pretty stuff, but is shallow and doesn't
last through more than a few hearings.
* * *
by Rashod D. Ollison
Baltimore Sun, March 31, 2009
On "Quiet Nights," the new album by Diana Krall, the jazz
singer-pianist sways with the gentle rhythms of bossa nova. It's a
sound that's familiar to Krall, and she handles it well. But this is
the first time the Grammy winner has devoted an entire album to the
style.
The CD, out Tuesday, is her first release since giving birth to twin
boys two years ago. In a way, "Quiet Nights" extends the elegant feel
of Krall's last album, the excellent "From This Moment On." Her hushed,
Shirley Horn-like vocals are warmly embraced by tastefully understated
orchestration overseen by the legendary Claus Ogerman. The arranger
last worked with Krall on her 2001 album, "The Look of Love," but had
long built his reputation on timeless sessions with Frank Sinatra and
bossa nova king Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Underscored by Ogerman's minor-key charts, the mood of "Quiet Nights"
is unabashedly romantic and sultry. But Krall's softly spun phrasing
and smart, precise piano work anchor the 12-song set.
It's the kind of late-night concept album jazz-pop sirens such as June
Christy and Peggy Lee used to cut back in the '50s. Krall's breathy,
suede-soft vocals glide through gems plucked from the American
Songbook. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "Where or When," which
opens the album, begins with stately strings before easing into bossa
nova.
Songs associated with the style, such as Jobim's "The Boy from Ipanema"
and the title track, are obvious choices. Although a '60s standard such
as Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By" may seem like an odd selection, it
fits well in the relaxed bossa nova mode. Besides, there was more than
a whiff of the style in the 1964 original.
Ultimately, though, "Quiet Nights" doesn't introduce any fresh ideas or
memorable improvisations. Krall just pays homage to a sound and doesn't
try to reinvigorate anything, which is fine. "Quiet Nights" simply
matches a classy singer with a classic style.
Download these: "Where or When," "Too Marvelous for Words," "Walk on By," "You're My Thrill," "Quiet Nights."
* * *
by Mike Joyce
Washington Post, March 31, 2009
Warm and sensuous? Torchy and blue? You bet. But Diana Krall's 12th CD is a bit sleepy at times, too.
"Quiet Nights" finds the Grammy-winning vocalist and pianist
collaborating with two pop legends -- producer Tommy LiPuma and
arranger Claus Ogerman -- on a recording devoted to bossa nova grooves
and hushed, Julie London-inspired balladry. Listening to it, you get
the feeling that bliss is right around the corner for plenty of fans of
romantic pop and Brazilian pulses.
There's no shortage of familiar tunes -- some overly familiar. Antonio
Carlos Jobim is represented by three performances, including the
album's title track, a.k.a. "Corcovado," which boasts a typically lush
and melancholic Ogerman orchestration. Classic pop standards by Rodgers
and Hart ("Where or When"), Lerner and Loewe ("I've Grown Accustomed to
His Face") and Johnny Mercer ("Too Marvelous for Words") are
interspersed with a pair of similarly arranged Top-40 hits, "Walk On
By" and the bonus track, "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart."
Indeed, Krall has never sounded so intent on creating a series of moody
vignettes, her voice seldom rising above a whisper. Slow, occasionally
creeping tempos don't allow for the kind of small combo interplay that
has enlivened some of her previous recordings. Yet she and her band
mates -- guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist John Clayton, drummer Jeff
Hamilton and percussionist Paulinho Da Costa -- nonetheless have their
moments, deftly punctuating the arrangements when the strings and
woodwinds fade on "I've Grown Accustomed to His Face" and during a
haunting interpretation of "You're My Thrill."
Diana Krall performs at Wolf Trap on June 17.
* * *
by Ashante Infantry
Toronto Star, March 31, 2009
With her breathy, languid vocals melded to Brazil's signature rhythms,
Diana Krall's 12th disc recalls the singer-pianist's "Look of Love"
(2001), her biggest selling recording.
Not surprising, since both albums were arranged by veteran German
conductor Claus Ogerman, noted for his work with bossa nova master
Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Accompanying herself on piano -- in concert with strings and long-time
collaborators guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist John Clayton and
drummer Jeff Hamilton -- Nanaimo's finest turns in a classic albeit
safe collection of music.
The retooled American pop and jazz faves are more rewarding than the
actual Brazilian standards "Boy from Ipanema," "Este Seu Olhar" and
"Quiet Nights," where reinvention is trickier to accomplish.
The highlights include "Too Marvelous for Words," which becomes a
seductive praise-song rather than the campy romp it can sometimes be,
and I love the way she bends and stretches out the words to Burt
Bacharach's "Walk On By."
Ogerman has left lots of room for Krall's superb improvisations. "So
Nice," for example, runs 90 seconds before vocals are introduced.
In interviews, the 44-year-old wife and mother has described these 10
tracks (with two bonus songs) as erotic, womanly, sensual. She's right.
The easy listening vibe doesn't surpass the riskily creative "The Girl
in the Other Room" (2004) or straightforwardly swinging "From This
Moment On" (2006), but it will go over well after hours and most
certainly at her April 30/May 1 Massey Hall gigs.
Top track: On one of the two bonus tracks -- the other is "Every Time
We Say Goodbye" -- Krall is exposed and deeply intimate on this
collection's one out-of-the-box offering: Al Green's "How Can You Mend
a Broken Heart."
* * *
by Mario Tarradell
Dallas Morning News, March 31, 2009
Diana Krall could fog up the bedroom windows with just a few notes of
her sultry voice. Especially on her gorgeous, Brazilian-inspired new
CD, "Quiet Nights." Images of ocean breezes, satin sheets and
flickering candles are conjured by the collaboration of percussion from
the respected Paulinho Da Costa, an orchestra of strings, flutes, horns
and vibes, Krall's piano playing, and familiar songs.
The steam that Krall generates is sublime. Her voice's melodic timbre,
with its breathy elegance, caresses staples such as "I've Grown
Accustomed to His Face," "Walk on By," "The Boy from Ipanema" and
"Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry."
Mrs. Elvis Costello oozes romance just as she reasserts her
interpretive powers. By now, the Canadian singer and pianist has
reached a level of critical and commercial success that allows her to
do just about anything. She's a song stylist, no longer merely a jazz
vocalist or a purveyor of pop standards.
"Quiet Nights," which was arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman, the
man best known for his work with the late Antonio Carlos Jobim, blurs
the lines separating jazz from traditional pop and bossa nova.
Krall's exquisite tonality anchors the project. Listen to her take the
Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" and transform it into
something that's part exotic tropics, part upscale nightclub and all
cozy sensuality. Don't forget to dim the lights.
* * *
by Chris Barton
Los Angeles Times, March 31, 2009
Diana Krall's albums should come with a warning label: Do not use while
operating heavy machinery. This is not a knock: Krall's round, relaxed
voice is a nuanced instrument ideally suited for, as this album's title
indicates, quiet nights. With this collection delving exclusively into
the worlds of classic ballads and bossa nova, the singer is in an even
quieter place than usual.
Which is a bit of a shame. There's nothing terribly wrong with Krall's
breathy take on Antonio Carlos Jobim with a faithfully bouncy "The Boy
from Ipanema" and "Quiet Nights"; the songs glide by with such an
evenhanded subtlety it's almost subliminal. The only mild frustration
is, other than Krall's tackling of the Portuguese-language "Este Seu
Olhar" from João Gilberto, there isn't really anything new or
unexpected here.
Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By" gets a slightly sassy knock from Krall's
vocal turn, but any seductive kick she could have offered gets lost
among the soft-focused string arrangements that shadow the whole album.
Still, Krall is in fine voice throughout, and her delicate piano work
gets time to shine as well, notably on the bossa nova standard "So
Nice." While fans looking for a classic, none-too-jarring soundtrack
for a romantic evening surely will follow this record happily into
their good night, Krall has offered us more than that in the past.
* * *
by Jim Farber (excerpt)
New York Daily News, March 31, 2009
Some singers aim to seduce, others to repel. Perfect examples of each can be found in new CDs by Diana Krall and PJ Harvey.
Krall wants with all her heart to lure you into the linen. Harvey would
sooner slit your throat. Yet -- as is so often the case with amorous
intentions -- things don't turn out as planned. Krall's languorous CD
couldn't leave me more limp, while Harvey's shock-treatment songs made
my love soar to a place beyond the sky.
Krall's "Quiet Nights" starts with a snore by covering the most
overexposed classics from both the great American songbook and the
classic Brazilian one. Think: "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face"
chased by "The Boy from Ipanema."
Oldies that moldy require the freshest shake to bring them to life.
Krall's central strategy was to turn these war-horses into sweet
nothings, whispered in bed. Too bad her attempts are less sensual than
somnambulant. She sucks all the tension out of "Walk on By" and makes
"Too Marvelous for Words" too drowsy for them. Claus Ogerman's
orchestrations outfit the bossa nova beats with cement shoes, and
Krall's readings manage to make the world's sexiest language (Brazilian
Portuguese) sound as inelegant as Mandarin. It's the sonic equivalent
of showering in ice water.
* * *
by David Burger
Salt Lake Tribune, March 31, 2009
Diana Krall shouldn't be dismissed because she's blonde (or married to
Elvis Costello). The singer should be dismissed by jazz lovers because
she continues to produce lightweight albums -- such as her new "Quiet
Nights" -- more suited for elevators than rollercoasters. While the
singer-pianist's whispery, hushed phrasing match the gentle minor-key
arrangements from Brazilian maestro Claus Ogerman, the album will not
make hearts flutter --- unless you gaze at the singer in a strapless
gown on the CD cover.
* * *
by J.D. Considine
Toronto Globe and Mail, March 31, 2009
Talk about turnarounds: Where Krall's last album, "From This Moment
On," emphasized the brash power of big band singing, "Quiet Nights"
finds the Nanaimo-born jazz star practically murmuring the melodies. In
part, that's a nod toward the understated, intimate sound of classic
bossa nova (three songs, including the title tune, were written by
Antonio Carlos Jobim), but mostly it reflects the album's emphasis on
romance. The opulent orchestration may whisper "make-out music," but
the passion in Krall's vocals, particularly "Where or When" and her
heartbreaking rendition of "Walk On By," keeps it from ever seeming
like mere background. Her savviest pop effort yet.
* * *
Diana Krall and Eliane Elias Concoct Seductive Sounds
Diana Krall: Quiet Nights (Verve)
Eliane Elias: Bossa Nova Stories (Blue Note)
by Peter Hum
Vancouver Sun, March 31, 2009
No, you're not seeing -- or hearing -- double.
But you could be forgiven for blurring together the latest musical (and
visual) offerings from Diana Krall and Eliane Elias. The new CDs from
the two 40-something singer/pianists are strikingly similar.
Quiet Nights from Krall, available Tuesday, and the recently released
Bossa Nova Stories from Elias both take classic bossa novas as their
point of departure. Both offer several A.C. Jobim tunes plus bossa-fied
versions of jazz standards and pop by Burt Bacharach or Stevie Wonder.
The Girl from Ipanema and Too Marvelous for Words appear on both discs.
Both wrap the star's breathy, sensual singing in plush orchestral
swaddling and feature piano playing that stresses good taste over
adventurousness.
The covers of the two discs both flaunt attractive blondes with soft
shoulders, shimmering lips and tight black dresses, proving that when
jazz can lean on the sex-sells marketing of pop music, it does.
The key difference: Krall's dozen songs tend to be slower and her
phrasing is more laid-back, while Elias's 14 songs include more
bouncier grooves, more assertive piano playing, and English lyrics sung
with the beguiling twang of a musician born and raised in Sao Paolo,
Brazil.
Krall, 44, has overtly played up the sexiness of her new CD, stating:
"I feel this album's very womanly -- like you're lying next to your
lover in bed whispering this in their ear." She and her longtime
producer Tommy LiPuma also root the disc in Krall's recent travels to
Brazil.
But it's just as true that the CD revisits the formula of Krall's 2001
disc The Look of Love, which just happened to sell more than three
million copies, and it eschews the more independent bent of 2004's The
Girl in the Other Room, which featured Krall singing her own
compositions and covering Tom Waits and Bonnie Raitt.
Quiet Nights is extremely easy on the ears -- maybe too easy. Its
foremost charms are the timbre of Krall's voice and her phrasing,
cloaked in Claus Ogerman's impeccably crafted orchestrations. But the
disc's well-calculated emotional and tempo ranges are narrow. The
disc's opener, Where or When, its title track, Too Marvelous for Words
and I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face are all about dreamy, slow,
sweet nothings.
The CD's most trifling track is So Nice, which verges on camp as Krall
doubles her singing of the melody with a single-note piano line. (In
general, Krall's piano work is pared down, consisting more of blues
licks than compelling lines.)
The disc's most passionate track is You're My Thrill, which finds Krall
invested in a song of "chills... and strange desire." It makes the rest
of Quiet Nights seem, well, too quiet.
Elias, 49, isn't the household name that Krall is, but jazz fans know
her as an impressive, powerful pianist who branched into singing later
in her career. She and Krall are certainly on the same track now.
However, there's more variety and personality to Elias' CD. She isn't
seeking to remake the commercial formula either, but Bossa Nova Stories
relies a little less on orchestral whoosh, and lets Elias sing and play
with more sauciness, digging in more at the piano and phrasing with
more forward motion.
The best tunes fall into several categories. Elias cuts loose at the
piano on Too Marvelous for Words and Day by Day. Estate (Summer) and
Stevie Wonder's Superwoman are standouts thanks to Toots Thielemans'
beguiling harmonica. Day in, Day Out, Chega de Saudade, and especially
A Ra (The Frog), sung in Portuguese, have hip-shaking grooves that are
nowhere to be found on Krall's CD.
Both discs will work fine as they were primarily designed, as
soundtracks chock-full of professionally rendered, well-known songs,
well-suited for dinner parties or more intimate gatherings. But the
Elias CD is more than pretty music in a pretty package, with music that
satisfies in the foreground as well as the background.
* * *
by Adam Mazmanian
Washington Times, March 31, 2009
Vocalist Diana Krall has put together the kind of album the music
industry isn't supposed to make anymore. It's a lavish and clearly
expensive production that recalls a bygone era of fat recording
contracts, excessive studio orchestras and massive record-buying
audiences.
"Quiet Nights" is, in large part, a lushly arranged homage to the
legendary collaborations between Frank Sinatra and Brazilian composer
Antonio Carlos Jobim. Recorded in Capitol Studios, Mr. Sinatra's old
stomping grounds, the album puts an extraordinary amount of resources
and effort into creating a mood of low-key romance.
Much of the credit for the sound has to go to Claus Ogerman, who wrote
the arrangements for the classic 1967 album "Francis Albert Sinatra and
Antonio Carlos Jobim." In retracing these decades-old steps, Mr.
Ogerman has created a more elegant, restrained sound. The Sinatra-Jobim
collaboration has the feel of a negotiated summit between Mr. Sinatra
and a foreign singing style. In contrast, while Miss Krall is the star
of the album, she treats her voice like one of many instruments -- an
especially useful tactic in bossa nova, in which vocals provide
rhythmic counterpoint to the syncopated percussion. This especially
comes across in her version of the Jobim classic "The Girl from
Ipanema," substituting "Boy" in the title.
Miss Krall's voice has a breathy, dreamy quality, and it is backed here
by an orchestra of enormous proportions for a pop recording. At the
same time, the soul of the album is in the collaboration between Miss
Krall and her longtime backing trio -- guitarist Anthony Wilson,
bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton, augmented here with
percussionist Paulinho Da Costa. Mr. DeCosta presumably is playing
traditional Brazilian instruments, including the cuica drum, which
creates the infectious and familiar bossa-nova rhythm.
Miss Krall's piano playing probably is the most understated element of
the album. The tinkling one-note piano lines are a signature of
Brazilian pop, and on tracks like "Este Seu Olhar" -- sung in
Portuguese by Miss Krall -- she shows off her fondness for the motif.
"Quiet Nights" gives equal time, if not equal billing, to well-known
extracts from the great American songbook, including the Richard
Rodgers-Lorenz Hart song "Where or When," the Alan Jay Lerner-Frederick
Loewe track "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" and the Burt
Bacharach-Hal David pop standard "Walk on By."
On "Walk on By," Miss Krall allows herself a rare interlude of
exuberance, singing with more elan and letting her voice creep into the
lower registers.
The only false note here is Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye,"
included as an unbilled bonus track. Leaving aside the pure schmaltz of
closing an album with this oft-performed song, the orchestration here
seems a bit bloated and Miss Krall's breathless vocal style somewhat
over the top. That aside, "Quiet Nights" is a gem of an album, not in
the least because it blends the intimacy of a small cabaret combo with
the elegance and heft of a full orchestra.
* * *
Diana Krall: Quiet Nights (Verve)
by Karl Stark
Philadelphia Inquirer, April 5, 2009
Diana Krall seems to sing this entire disk in a sensual purr. Her style
is coolly erotic. Sculpted strings support her every breath like a
cosmic girdle. She never gets labored and often just seems to be a
glissando away from a smoky speaking voice.
The settings are heavy on the bossa nova, the beat that Brazilian
composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and others made famous about a
half-century ago. The selection of standards and such tunes as Burt
Bacharach's "Walk On By" reinforce the period feeling.
Producer Claus Ogerman, whose collaborators included Jobim and Frank
Sinatra together, reprises the suavity he delivered on Krall's last big
recording, 2001's "The Look of Love."
Krall gets a lot of good ache out of her voice on Jobim's "The Girl
from Ipanema," which mercifully does not suck. She gets a little bluesy
on the Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" And her
piano-playing stands out for its beguiling simplicity.
Still, there's something precious and contrived at work here, too.
Krall's silken lines on the title track, another Jobim original, made
me yearn for less artifice, like maybe Janis Joplin at full bore.
* * *
by Darryl Sterdan
Toronto Sun, April 5, 2009
If you expected Krall to be in a mellow mood on her first disc since
becoming a mom, you were right. But if you expected her to serve up
some nursery-rhyme jazz, you were wrong. Instead, she heads south,
reteaming with legendary arranger Claus Ogerman on 10 quietly
sophisticated bossa nova gems and songbook standards. The result: The
coolest lullabies you'll ever hear.
* * *
Diana Krall: Quiet Nights (Verve)
by Owen McNally
Hartford Courant, April 22, 2009
Tapping into the sensuous mode of such classic divas of desire as Julie
London and Peggy Lee, Diana Krall is at her most seductive on this
bossa nova-flavored collaboration with Claus Ogerman, the grand master
of voluptuous, dream-like string arrangements.
Back in 2001, this alliance between, Krall, the hip jazz
vocalist-pianist superstar with stunning silver screen looks, and
Ogerman, the venerable arranger-conductor and German romanticist who
has spun silken charts for everyone from Frank Sinatra to Bill Evans,
generated a multi-platinum album with "The Look of Love."
With its unalloyed mix of amorous themes, warm to steamy vocals,
sumptuous strings, breezy bossas (including three Antonio Carlos Jobim
classics) and a handful of revered love ballads, the album is alive
with both the sound of sweetness and light and the distinct ring of yet
another platinum success.
Krall sets the sultry tone right from track one with her breathy,
intimate, one-on-one conversational vocals floating diaphanously above
the gossamer textures of Ogerman's opulent orchestrations.
Krall embraces such love ballads as "Too Marvelous for Words," "I've
Grown Accustomed to His Face" and the great Sammy Cahn-Jule Styne
lachrymose lament, "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry." Besides such
Jobim bossas as "The Boy from Ipanema" and "Quiet Nights," there are
some surprises here, including a gospel-flavored "How Can You Mend a
Broken Heart," a relatively spare bonus track of much charm.
* * *
Diana Krall: Quiet Nights (Universal)
by Phil Johnson
London Independent, May 3, 2009
Despite the bossa-invoking title, this isn't a full Brazilian. Rather,
Krall's customary formula of Capitol Studios, producer Tommy LiPuma and
arranger Claus Ogerman crafts a classy "Sinatra sings Jobim" job from
several standards plus three Jobims and "So Nice".
The standards work best, including a ravishing "Accustomed to His
Face". Expensive ear candy it may be, but Krall's husky voice and
Ogerman's oblique orchestrations suit the sensual mood.
Pick of the album: "You're My Thril", a noir ballad
* * *
Diana Krall: Quiet Nights
by Dave Gelly
London Observer, May 31, 2009
If it's a whispery, romantic vocal album you're after, then this is
possibly the best since the late Julie London took honourable
retirement. To sing subdued ballads and bossa novas as weightlessly as
this, and still keep the rhythmic tension going, calls for immense
poise. Only people immersed, like Diana Krall and her first idol, Nat
King Cole, in a jazz background can do it. Claus Ogerman's arrangements
have that expensive, mile-wide string sound and Ms Krall's trio make
the perfect rhythm section. There is teasingly little of her own piano
playing, though.
* * *
Diana Krall: Quiet Nights (Verve)
by John Fordham
London Guardian, May 29, 2009
Singer/pianist Krall was once the jazziest of the jazz-influenced young
singers who rekindled the hopes of the major labels' accountants during
the 90s. She was an accomplished swing pianist (former Billie Holiday
accompanist Jimmy Rowles was a mentor), and an intelligent heiress to
Shirley Horn and Carmen McRae. Then the same thing happened to her as
had happened 40 years before to one of her biggest inspirations, Nat
King Cole. Quiet Nights is the latest stage in the unjazzing of Diana
Krall. As if fearing she might be overtaken in the sweet-nothings
department by the even more whispery newcomer Melody Gardot, Krall here
breathes her way through an entire album of songs about love and loss,
mostly restricting herself to a smoky middle register -- with a little
samba-sensuality on the side. There's always something a bit weird
about a very intimate record backed by a regiment of symphonic players.
But though Krall makes a powerful job of You're My Thrill, and brings
the obli que world-weary frankness of her earlier days to Guess I'll
Hang My Tears Out to Dry, a Walk On By stripped of its soul roots
sounds overly genteel, and Where or When exhibits a hint of coyness she
has never shown before. It sounds more like a production job than the
personal testament to hubbie Elvis Costello that Krall has said the
album represents.
* * *
Diana Krall: Quiet Nights (Verve)
by John Bungey
London Times, May 29, 2009
On recent albums Diana Krall, a Canadian national treasure and now
mother of twins, has tried her hand as a singer-songwriter and a
big-band swinger. Interesting though these records were, none came
close to the world-conquering sales of her "Look of Love" years, when a
potent mix of sensual vocals and swoony strings left men of a certain
age the world over all a-tremble.
Well, good news, chaps -- the old Diana is back. She bills "Quiet
Nights" as "a love letter to my husband [Elvis Costello]". But you can
forget him as Krall delivers her lyrics at pillow-talk volume.
"Quiet Nights" mixes bossa nova classics with songbook standards, and
the arranger Claus Ogerman, who once helped Sinatra to sing samba,
swathes them in silken strings. Has Krall got anything new to add to
these tunes? Sometimes, yes. "Too Marvellous for Words" gets a rare
bossa treatment and Krall's phrasing is a subtle pleasure. "Walk On
By", stripped down and taken slow, like everything here, features a
beguiling string break embroidered with silvery piano notes from Krall.
But I struggled with that old chestnut rendered here as "The Boy from
Ipanema", unable to dispel a mental image of Elvis C running slo-mo
through the surf with trousers rolled up. "I've Grown Accustomed to His
Face" is moodily seductive but, again, taken at snail's pace.
There is poise and polish here, though not much you could call jazz;
this is a sleek production aimed at Middle Canada and Middle Britain
and the results are, well, middling.
* * *
"Quiet Nights"
by Clive Davis
London Times, May 24, 2009
Four decades after Sinatra enlisted Claus Ogerman to weave a sotto voce
mix of bossa nova classics and American standards, Krall once again has
the veteran arranger at her side. As you would expect, it's all
undertaken with impeccable taste, even if the Canadian singer generally
plays it by the book, Paulinho da Costa adding a smattering of
authentic percussion. Odd that they thought it worth resuscitating "The
Girl from Ipanema". Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By", however, adapts well
to the idiom. Krall even tries her hand at Portuguese on "Este Seu
Olhar". Her easy-listening-oriented fans will enjoy the rapt ambience,
although Jobim lovers will get more out of the recent tribute set from
that underrated bossa enthusiast Karrin Allyson.
* * *
Diana Krall: Quiet Nights (Verve)
by Jack Massarik
London Evening Standard, June 5, 2009
Having married Elvis Costello and presented him with twin sons, the
ever-stylish Diana Krall sounds a warmer and more fulfilled
singer-pianist than the Canadian ice-maiden of old. Indeed this is her
maiden bossa-nova album, a laid-back project she describes as "a love
letter to my husband". With Midas-touch producer Tommy LiPuma back in
the booth, she takes to the gentle samba classics of Jobim and Gilberto
like a duck to water, or, more accurately, a nightingale to Berkeley
Square. Claus Ogerman's lush string arrangements might have swamped a
lesser balladeer, but the sharp-witted touches of her piano and Anthony
Wilson's guitar supply the necessary glint of steel.
Diana Krall, "Quiet Nights", Verve #_________ (2009).[DeLuxe Edition with Bonus DVD]
This is a 2-disk deluxe issue which includes a DVD of her May 29th
performance in Madrid, Spain. Also included is a track performed with
her husband Elvis Costello, "Makin' Whoopee."
The three Jobim compositions are indicated on the tracklist below.
Tracklist:
Disc 1 (Studio Tracks)
1. Where Or When
2. Too Marvelous For Words
3. I've Grown Accustomed To His Face
4. The Boy From Ipanema (Jobim)
5. Walk On By
6. You're My Thrill
7. Este Seu Olhar (Jobim)
8. So Nice
9. Quiet Nights (Jobim)
10. Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
11. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
12. Everytime We Say Goodbye
Disc 2 (Live Versions)
1. I Love Being Here With You
2. Boy from Ipanema
3. Exactly Like You
4. Quiet Nights
5. You're My Thrill
6. I Don't Know Enough About You
7. Let's Fall in Love
8. Makin' Whoopee