Album title: Turn Up the Quiet
Artist: Diana Krall
Genre: Jazz
Nationality: Canadian
Release date: May 5
Position in Discography: Thirteenth
Estimated Rating:
Familiar with this artist? No but I have heard of her
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.32
I've been hearing this name around and about, and it seems she's quite respected in her field, but this is the first time I've listened to Diana Krall. Apparently this is another of those albums of standards that appeal to the artist, and even though they're jazz standards and so generally should mean nothing to me, I think I recognise the odd title. Certainly, Cole Porter's “Night and Day” is one I know, obviously. When it starts I have to be honest: I find this crushingly boring. Obviously these are old standards, so they're going to have that 40s/50s/whatever feel, but I'm just not getting into it. Well, “Isn't it Romantic” is a lot better. I think maybe the fact that the first one seemed to have only bass as accompaniment coloured my view of it. The piano on this one is cool, very smooth and laid back. “L-O-V-E” is a song I really don't like but she does a good job of it. Mind you, on this one at least the credit goes more to the band (combo?) as they really breathe new life into it. She sings well, but, yeah. She does a good version of the aforementioned “Night and Day” too. Her voice is very smoky and sultry, but I would like to hear her sing something with a bit more life in it maybe.
That sexy, purring style comes through best perhaps on “Moonglow”, which positively sizzles under her voice, and there's some really nice guitar work on Irving Berlin's “Blue Skies”, which finally kicks a little action into proceedings with a boppy bass line and gives Krall the opportunity to push up the tempo. Speaking of upping the tempo, I realise I know “Sway” and it should be a fast-ish track but she has slowed it right down here. I mean, I don't necessarily have a problem with that and I know she's doing her best to put her own spin on these classics, but so much of it is slow and languorous, I just feel if a song is known to be played usually at a faster tempo, then it would have been better to have kept it that way, to maintain some sort of decent balance of tempos. Slow and easy has definitely the upper hand here, and to me, it's like playing, I don't know, maybe “Satisfaction” as a slow, lazy blues number.
Another one which raises the tempo slightly is “No Moon at All” - I have no idea how this goes originally; the song is not known to me – with some really nice piano runs, apparently also played by Krall. Did not know that. A nice mostly laid back album of jazz standards. I don't have any experience of vocal jazz, so I couldn't say whether Diana Krall is a good exponent of the genre or not, but she seems to do a good job here. Not certain I'd be that interested in hearing more though.
Check out more from this artist? Probably wouldn't be in a rush to, no
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Again, vocal jazz, kind of no
Actual Rating:
