Diana Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. To date, her albums have garnered two Grammy® Awards, ten Juno® Awards and have also earned nine gold, three platinum and seven multi-platinum albums. Krall's unique artistry transcends any single musical style and has made her one of the most recognizable artists of our time. As The New York Times recently noted Krall possesses, “A voice at once cool and sultry, wielded with a rhythmic sophistication”.
Born in British Columbia, which is outside of Vancouver, Krall grew up in the western part of Canada and began studying the piano when she was four years old. By the time she was 15, she was performing jazz locally and with the encouragement of her father, a stride pianist with a vast knowledge of such Twenties and Thirties keyboard masters as Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, and Earl Hines.
Krall was still a teenager when she was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. After two years in Boston, she moved to Los Angeles, where she met her first jazz heavyweights, including bassist John Clayton, drummer Jeff Hamilton, pianist/singer Jimmy Rowles, and Ray Brown, the legendary bassist who served as her musical mentor. In 1993, the Montreal -based Justin Time Records released her debut album, Stepping Out. The following year she signed with GRP Records and recorded Only Trust Your Heart, which featured Ray Brown on bass and Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone. Only Trust Your Heart also marked the beginning of her association with Tommy LiPuma, a collaboration that would continue until LiPuma’s untimely passing in 2017.
Coming from a family of musicians, Diana Krall was almost born with a piano under her fingers as she began her apprenticeship at the age of 4! By the age of 15, she was already playing in several restaurants in her hometown and two years later, she won a scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. These were more than promising beginnings for the budding artist.
Back in Canada, she was spotted by double bassist Ray Brown, who put all his energy into convincing her to move to Los Angeles to launch her career. It was there that she met her second mentor, Jimmy Rowles. With him, she further honed her piano skills and learned to sing before signing her first album in 1990.
Married to the British musician Elvis Costello, it was in Paris, with whom she fell in love, that she spent her honeymoon. And the city gives it back to her! Her concerts are always filled with an attentive and conquered public. It is to pay homage to her that she recorded in 2001, Live in Paris, her only concert album. A real success that will earn her the second Grammy Awards of her career in the Best Vocal Jazz Record category.
In 2004, the singer was already taking the wrong path when she released her critically acclaimed opus of original compositions, The Girl in The Other Room, for the first time. This time, she accepted Neil Young's invitation for a series of concerts in defence of Indian rights. It was a very positive experience for the artist, who later said: "It made me realise that I didn't have to stay in my character as a jazz singer, that I could do whatever I wanted as long as it was sincere". She put this statement into practice in her next album, Wallflower, which included covers of major pop hits.
Love Is Here To Stay found Diana collaborating with her long-time friend and colleague Tony Bennett. It was recorded with the Grammy award winning Bill Charlap Trio and the stunning result is a subtle, sophisticated and beautifully rendered love letter to The Gershwins’ music and their status as one of the premiere songwriters of the American popular standard.
Her most recent release, This Dream Of You, has garnered critical acclaim from fans and press alike. This album is a loving conclusion of Diana’s 25-year working relationship with Tommy LiPuma. Shortly before LiPuma's passing, the producer and artist discussed the abundance of great music recorded at their last sessions together.
No artifice for Diana Krall, a singer and pianist with raw talent who delivers a modern version of jazz, full of subtlety and emotion. The woman who is affectionately known as the Nat King Cole now fully accepts her status as a jazz icon and master of rhythm. Whether in the studio or on stage, she skillfully bends all genres to fit her unique style and we ask for more !
For her first concert in a series of three at the Olympia, as a quartet, Diana Krall puts the audience on its feet. At arm's length, because she alternates standards, songs of her own making and a few tunes from Brazil that she has always liked to play, like a revue leader. At arm's length, because her outstretched arms display such an efficient musculature for the most restrained tempos, pianissimo, the phrasing beaded into the ballads, in short, the music.
Everything that makes the success of his records is there: a deep voice that wanders through an infinite range of styles, a group of erudition that sets the bar very high from the outset and the variety of songs sung tonight. We will hear in a folk blues register the Tom Waits, the Dylan, the beautiful A case of you by Joni Mitchell. But also great classics such as Fly me to the moon or Cry Me a river which she interprets after having polled the audience.
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