The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features

Diana Krall | Quiet Nights

Verve (2009)
By TED DROZDOWSKI  |  March 23, 2009
3.5 3.5 Stars

090327_Krall_m

Jazz as the language of love is the theme of this hitmaker's 12th album, an achingly pretty tribute to the spirit, pace, and sound of the bossa nova. Although Krall goes directly to the source with three classics by Antonio Carlos Jobim including "The Boy [sic] from Ipanema," she also transforms Tin Pan Alley chestnuts like "You're My Thrill," where her hushed trumpet-like vocal phrasing and slow piano melody are a mesmerizing blend, and Burt Bacharach & Hal David's "Walk On By," with harmonized French horns carrying the tune.

Claus Ogerman, who orchestrated pioneering '60s Brazilian bossa nova recordings as well as Sinatra sessions, brings authenticity and elegance to the string and horn arrangements. His charts emphasize minor keys, creating a moody emotional palette for the album. And, as usual, Krall's honeyed voice and carefully chiseled playing are as spare and perfect on every cut as her core quartet's accompaniment.
Related: Reeling in the years, The onliest Sonny, Extremeties, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Burt Bacharach,  More more >
| More
Add Comment
HTML Prohibited

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 08/11 ]   Alkaline Trio + MewithoutYou + The Drowning Men  @ Paradise Rock Club
[ 08/11 ]   Eric Harland  @ Regattabar
[ 08/11 ]   Leon Redbone  @ Scullers Jazz Club
ARTICLES BY TED DROZDOWSKI
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   COUNTRY STRONG | SOUNDTRACK  |  January 11, 2011
    This steaming pile of songs is emblematic of the state of mainstream country music — all artifice, no heart, calculated anthems written to formula and meant, like the film itself, to do no more than capitalize on the genre's current success and rob its undiscriminating fans.
  •   MARC RIBOT | SILENT MOVIES  |  November 02, 2010
    This exceptional, eccentric guitarist has traced a slow evolution from screamer to dreamer.
  •   IN MEMORIAM: SOLOMON BURKE, 1940 — 2010  |  October 11, 2010
  •   REVIEW: RONNIE EARL AND THE BROADCASTERS | SPREAD THE LOVE  |  September 07, 2010
    Boston-based blues-guitar virtuoso Ronnie Earl seems to be considering his past on his 23rd album as a leader.
  •   SUN DAYS  |  July 06, 2010
    Sonny Burgess had his first hit for Sun Records in 1956 — two minutes and 26 seconds of howling wild-ass stomp called "We Wanna Boogie."

 See all articles by: TED DROZDOWSKI

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2011 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group