Diana Krall performed with Sebastian Steinberg on upright bass and Matt Chamberlain on percussion at Massey Hall on Tuesday.Jag Gundu/Supplied
She walked onstage at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Tuesday wearing a dark pinstriped pantsuit and immediately introduced her bandmates: drummer Matt Chamberlain and Sebastian Steinberg on upright bass. In wardrobe and in musical settings, Diana Krall prefers the three-piece.
They swung into Frederick Loewe’s Almost Like Being in Love, bass on the first verse and drums arriving next. The trio played in close quarters, bunched on a tasteful rug. The showtune was a nice introduction − as if Krall stepped into a living room with an announcement.
“What a day this has been,” she sang, her phrasing uniquely deliberate and careful. “What a rare mood I’m in.” Krall on her Steinway and Steinberg behind her then engaged in a musical dialogue − a back-and-forth in chatty instrumental bursts.
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It has been a while since I’ve seen and heard Krall in person. The jazzer’s whole deal is more impressive than I remember: The sleepy-eyed contralto from Nanaimo, B.C., has the look of love and the sound of rain, languor and Kathleen Turner two Manhattans in.
Krall sang a show of mostly standards.Jag Gundu/Supplied
Krall is in the middle of a short Canadian tour that began in Hamilton and concludes, on April 22, at Vancouver’s Orpheum. The Verve Records artist isn’t promoting an album; her last studio effort was 2020’s This Dream of You, a collection of recordings made with longtime producer Tommy LiPuma before his death in 2017.
On the first of two nights at Massey, the double-Grammy winner mostly stuck to decelerated interpretations of standards. An exception was The Girl in the Other Room, written by Krall and her husband, Elvis Costello.
At one point early in the concert, after a dreamy piano run, she told the audience that she sometimes forgets she can sing. It would be a shame if she did. Her breathy singing is inventive and, if not emotional, discreetly expressive. The sound that comes from her are like gasps of carefully carved steam that act as a counterpoint to piano work that feels more playful and spontaneous.
On the hip sprawl of All or Nothing at All, she and her accompanists flew free but generally in the same direction. If Chet Baker liked to get lost, Krall has built-in GPS.
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She and her rhythm section worked songs from the inside out, squeezing out the sentiments in precise ways. Tempos were unhurried − there’s relaxed, and then there’s Krall-relaxed. Burt Bacharach’s The Look of Love wasn’t so much played by the trio as it was deeply massaged.
They took their time with Brian Wilson’s In My Room as well. Krall showed her soulful side here, seemingly influenced more by Motown than the surf-music maestro. (She showed her goofy side later when an audience member asked her about her shoes. Krall responded with a series of punny groaners that hopefully left dads in the crowd reconsidering their own humour.)
The night of material written by Cole Porter, George Gershwin and more concluded with an upbeat and nimble presentation of the heartbroken jazz standard All of Me. “How can I go on, dear, without you?” Krall sang. “You took the part that once was my heart, so why not take all of me?”
There’s a remoteness to Krall; she’s cool-blue and professional, not personal. Why not take all of her? We take as much as she gives, which is enough for her audience.
Diana Krall plays Massey Hall, Toronto, April 15; Colosseum at Caesars, Windsor, Ont., April 16; Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, April 20; Jack Singer Concert Hall at Arts Commons, Calgary, April 21; The Orpheum, Vancouver, April 22; The Theatre at Great Canadian Casino Resort, Toronto, May 9; Montreal International Jazz Festival, June 26 and 27.