Jazzy Diana sings the standards once more

The writing credits read like pages from the great American songbook. There are timeless compositions by the Gershwins, George and Ira, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Harry Warren, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Jimmy Van Heusen, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Sammy Cahn and others. Diverting a bit but certainly spicing things up is the inclusion of a song from way down south of the border by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The works of these great composers make up From This Moment On, the new album by the superb stylist Diana Krall.

A singer/songwriter who is also a wiz with the piano, she is one of Vancouver’s best contributions to the area of popular music. She is beautiful and talented and married to Elvis Costello. If you like watching Clint Eastwood movies like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, then you must have heard Diana’s smoky tones singing in the soundtrack. Five years ago, she made waves with The Look of Love, an album of standards. A year ago she had The Girl in the Other Room, an introspective collection made up of her own songs. For 2006, Diana has From This Moment On which came out only a few weeks ago. It is once more made up of standards and it is just as lovely as her earlier albums.

Gone now is the tentative naivete that was so sweetly appealing in The Look of Love. Krall now shows a more confident grasp of the traditional arrangements. Performed by The Clayton Hamilton Orchestra and The Diana Krall Quartet, with of course Diana herself on the piano, these are mostly of the big band kind and nothing similar to the combo she preferred to use in most of her past recordings. And as though she wants to prove that she is indeed in full command of the demands of the material, she even scats. Ella diehards may not approve of this, but Diana does it well in her own style, a childlike flirty gurgle from her throat.

The first cut It Could Happen to You makes a superb introduction to the package. You feel your ears perk up right from that first downbeat. I was happy to find Little Girl Blue, a sad little tune that Krall does with such elegance she made me forget my two favorite versions, Doris Day’s and Barbra Streisand’s. Also big winners are two contrasting cuts. This is her bold and brassy version of Day In Day Out followed by the melancholy Willow Weep for Me which comes across as a female counterpart to Sinatra’s paean to the broken hearted male, Quarter to Three.

The other beautiful songs in the album are Isn’t This a Lovely Day, Exactly Like You, From This Moment On, I Was Doing Alright, Come Dance with Me, It Was a Beautiful Day in August/You Can Depend on Me and How Insensitive, the great piece of Latin jazz by Jobim. Then there’s an exclusive bonus cut, The Boulevard of Broken Dreams. A fun and unlikely choice, Krall pulls off this Tony Bennett standard without resorting to camp or getting cheesy.

Now, since that most wonderful time of the year is fast approaching and we are in a Diana Krall mood, I think I should make mention of Christmas Songs, her first Yuletide album. This will make a good companion to From This Moment On should you decide to give the CD as a gift to somebody special. It is made up of the usual Christmas stuff, songs that have been recorded by almost everybody over the years.

What makes these carols special this time around is Diana’s delivery, which is also not the usual kind we get in Christmas albums nowadays. No choirs or chimes ringing out in this one. Krall swings and is cool and sophisticated just like the way Sinatra was in his Christmas albums many years ago. Just a thought, the scatting and the big band accompaniment in some cuts probably inspired her to use more of the same in From This Moment On.

Included in the album are Jingle Bells, Let It Snow, The Christmas Song, Winter Wonderland, I’ll be Home for Christmas, Christmas Time is Here, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, White Christmas, What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve, Sleigh Ride and Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep.