Diana Krall treated a Father's Day crowd to a superb ninety-five-minute, sixteen-song performance at Portsmouth, Virginia’s, nTelos Wireless Pavilion.  A reported two thousand listeners attended on a lovely first night of summer. Krall was supported by splendid guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Robert Hurst, and drummer Jeff Hamilton, a star himself.

Clad in a black cocktail dress, the gorgeous lady displayed explosive technique, casual, friendly charm, and one of the most perfect vocal sounds jazz has ever heard. Normally when a singer bends notes, I find it slightly offensive, but not in the mouth of an expert, if rationed, as she did. And in the past, this sensuous blonde has sometimes shown careless diction by dropping the final syllable of the last word in a line; I only spotted one lapse, and she was distracted by a cold and annoyed by bugs.

Krall has about five different sounds, depending on the mood, range, pitch, tempo, etc.  The variety gives her a wonderful palette of expression; my favorite is her husky whisper.

She opened with the Peggy Lee/Bill Schluger tune, “I Love Being Here with You” at such a frenetic clip that the words were completely inaudible. The opening song is an important adjustment time for musicians, sound man, audience. Slowing the tempo would easily correct this.

In keeping with her newest CD, the program was sprinkled with bossa novas. The CDs title track, “Quiet Nights," was made for Krall. So intimate a lyric calls for “less-is-more” passion as only she can deliver it. "This Can’t Be Love” became  a tour de force for the instruments; guitarist Wilson truly shone. With this song, Krall removed any possible doubt about having awesome technique and the ability to swing…hard.

This Canadian lady is married to the Brit, Elvis Costello, who is playing in San Francisco. Away from her spouse, Krall erotically whispered Johnny Mercer’s words to Gordon Jenkins’ lilting melody of “P.S. I Love You.”

In this expansive venue, the large-screen videos did a splendid job of compensating for the  lack of intimacy…and nothing’s more intimate than Krall’s cooool whisper!

Eric Stevens
Cabaret Scenes
June 21, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org