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DIANA KRALL IS A WORLD-CLASS JAZZ PIANO PLAYER AND singer—and the bulk of her catalog falls squarely into the jazz realm. But her latest album Wallfl ower consists almost entirely of pop and rock favorites from the 1960s to the ’80s—classics like the Eagles’ “Desperado” and “I Can’t Tell You Why,” the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’,” the Carpenters’ “Superstar,” and 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love,” along with the Bob Dylan-penned title track and a previously unreleased Paul McCartney composition, “If I Take You Home Tonight.”

Produced and arranged by David Foster, the tracks, most of them richly orchestrated, place the focus on Krall’s keen interpretive sense and emotive vocals. Her goal was to showcase her vocal chops on these songs she’s loved for so long—and the musical change-up proved to be a success: The album placed Top 10 in more than 20 countries. “Though I’ve won jazz vocalist awards, I still consider myself a jazz pianist who sings,” says Krall, 50. “I’m not

a writer—I sing and play music and make people feel. That which cannot be said has to be sung.”

With fi ve Grammys and eight Juno Awards, as well as nine gold, three platinum and seven multiplatinum records, Krall boasts a career that could stand as the defi nition of jazz success. She’s also the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. The Canadian native began playing piano when she was just 4, and went on to study at Boston’s Berklee College of Music on scholarship before heading to L.A. Since her 1993 debut album Stepping Out went gold, she’s played with everyone from Ray Charles to Hank Jones to Paul McCartney. Krall also produced Barbra Streisand’s Love Is the Answer in 2009, and her marriage to Elvis Costello in 2003 has further elevated her profi le. Krall discusses the creative process behind the new record, what she hoped to achieve—and what she didn’t.

DIANA KRALL On her latest album, the jazz pianist picks pop and plays favoritesBy Jeff Tamarkin

‘Sometimes if you take pop tunes and put them in a jazz setting, you overthink them a bit.’

Bryan A

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You grew up with these songs.Right, it’s not like I discovered them in somebody’s basement. These are from albums I got when they came out, like Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over.” I’ve always been connected with that song and always wondered how I would do it some day. I fi nally got the chance. When I recorded it, I said to David [Foster], “Just let [drummer Jim] Keltner go—I want a big rock ballad.” David said, “I don’t know, this may be pushing it too far,” but I said, “Nope. Just go for it.”

Blow your allowance on records?Yes, I did. It was all about the radio. When [Paul McCartney and Wings’] Wings Over America came out, I would play along. It was the time of Supertramp and Elton John. My mother and father were young people at that time, and they were listening to Linda Ronstadt, so some of their records got moved upstairs to my room.

Did you avoid jazz on the album?No. I just wear a lot of different hats. The band I have now is not a hardcore jazz band. I like to have that free-mind thinking. But I did tell David, “I don’t want to make a jazz record. I just want to stick with the original chord changes and harmonies and melodies because they’re all great. If you want to take liberties with a few things, cool, but I don’t want to make it like suddenly I’m doing my jazz interpretations of Radiohead.” I didn’t want to make new standards of favorite pop songs. Nor did I want to make it “Diana Krall Sings the Hits of the ’80s.” It’s like what Dylan said about his new album [Shadows in the Night]—he’s not doing covers, he’s uncovering those songs.

Elaborate on what you mean by notwanting to make new standards.I wanted to do pop songs and keep the integrity of the way they were originally written with a couple of changes. I sound like Humphrey Bogart, but I’ve played a lot of gin joints where I played music outside of jazz. We all just play music we like, whether it’s Christian McBride playing with

James Brown or Anthony Wilson playing with Jesse Harris. We’re out there to explore. On this album I got a chance to work with Bryan Adams and Michael Bublé, who I run into in the frozen food section in my neighborhood all the time. All these things mean something to me—I didn’t just pull them out of a hat. I wanted to sing “Desperado” because I know all the words, I don’t need the music, and I just love the song.

How were guest artists selected?I just gave it over to David and he made really good choices for me. He suggested using [former Eagle] Timothy Schmit on “I Can’t Tell You Why.” I was blown away by that. Then when we did the Jim Croce tune [“Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)”] we had Stephen Stills and Graham Nash. These were all songs I loved for so long.

Why record “California Dreamin’”?I was hoping to do that for my Look of Love album and couldn’t fi gure out how. Sometimes if you take pop tunes and put them in a jazz setting, you overthink them a bit because you think, “I’ve got to make it into jazz” or “I’ve got to re-harmonize it.” If you just keep the integrity of the melody and harmonies of the piece but do it the way we think about it, that maintains the freedom of the whole thing. So I couldn’t fi gure out how to do it, and then when we were kicking around tunes, I played this Shuggie Otis tune, “Aht Uh Mi Hed.” And I just said, “What about putting that kind of beat on ‘California Dreamin’”? You muse things around in your head for years before they come out in some way.

Tell us about the Paul McCartney song. He wrote some beautiful songs for his record [Kisses on the Bottom, on which Krall plays piano] and fortunately for me that song didn’t make his record. I told him I loved the song and he said thank you. Then last summer I found the music to it on my piano and started playing it, and [drummer] Karriem [Riggins] said, “You should do that, D.” So I asked Paul if I could do this song and he said sure. That was the big story behind that. It could be my favorite track.

Why choose Dylan’s “Wallfl ower”?I played “Wallfl ower” on the Glad Rag Doll tour for a couple of years. I think it has so much truth to it. It’s on his Another Self Portrait from the “Bootleg Series.” I just sang it at concerts, and my kids’ teacher said, “Oh, I love that song so much. It so speaks to me.” Then we ended up having the fi rst

‘I still consider myself a jazz pianist who sings.’

ALL FOR YOU: A DEDICATION TO THE NAT KING COLE TRIO(1996)This tribute to a primeinfluence of Krall’s

works because she knows better than to attempt imitation, and while her technique is impressive, she doesn’t fl aunt it. Whether on the jumping boogie “Hit That Jive, Jack” or the mellow “I’m Thru With Love,” Krall owns the material.

THE LOOK OF LOVE (2001)This orchestrated set features arrangements by Claus Ogerman and marks something of

a departure as Krall steps out of the jazz waters. In another time this would have been called Adult Contemporary—but what matters most is how thoroughly she nails it.

LIVE IN PARIS (2002)No special formula at work here, just a rivetingly tight performance by a gifted vocalist and a

band of jazz all-stars (Michael Brecker, Christian McBride). Album-ending covers of Joni Mitchell and Billy Joel offer a welcome deviation from Krall’s Great American Songbook repertoire.

THE VERY BEST OF DIANA KRALL (2007)Krall’s compilation spans 1996-2006, focusing on the Songbook-era standards on which her

career was built (with a Tom Waits cover tossed in). Still redefi ning herself, Krall proves a master within the orchestral settings, as with the velvety “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”

GLAD RAG DOLL (2012)A career crowning achievement , this T Bone Burnett-produced album is Krall’s

love letter to the primal jazz of the ’20s and ’30s. Avoiding retro clichés, Krall and Burnett instead delight in shaking things up, inserting fuzzed-out guitar and rocking piano licks.

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grade class singing it at an assembly. It takes you from a child’s feeling of truth to being an adult at the dance. I just love the song. I don’t know what else to say about it. I’m such a huge Dylan fan.

Ever meet him?When I fi rst met Bob Dylan I was so geeked out. He was playing this keyboard at the time. I said, “I really like the way you play piano,” and he goes, “You should know because you’re a piano player.” I walked away! Of all the things I could say to Bob Dylan, I just told him I really liked the way he played piano! Conan O’Brien says that when you meet your heroes all you can say is, “I like cheese.” But I really do like the way Bob Dylan plays piano. It was coming from an honest place, but that’s not the fi rst thing you say to him.

You produced Barbra Streisand—ready for more?No, thanks! (laughs) Nope. Barbra did the kindest thing, putting up a picture of the two of us on her Facebook page and saying what a good time we had and that I was a good gin rummy player. I was so happy! I remember [co-producer] Tommy LiPuma saying to me, “Hey, now you know what it’s like to be behind the glass.” But I did enjoy every minute of it.

What’s next for you?I’m so living in the right now. I just enjoy my life. I’m glad to have my outlet to sing and play music again. I’m grateful to my fans for supporting me. My band has got my back so hard, and whatever I want to do, fortunately they’ll go with me.

BEHIND THE GLASS‘My band has got my back so hard, and whatever I want to do, fortunately they’ll go with me.’

To produce her latest album, Wallfl ower, Diana Krall tapped fellow Canadian native David Foster, whose mile-long resume includes Céline Dion, Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban and Whitney Houston. For Krall, working with Foster—who is also chairman of Verve, her record label—had long been high on her wish list. “David has always been extremely supportive, and he’s always said, ‘Someday we’re going to work together,’” she says. “So I told him, ‘Now is the time.’” She then asked him to come up with some songs. “He told me, ‘Sorry, you’re the artist—pick tunes that are comfortable for you,’” she says. “I really thank him for that. I have such a new appreciation for him now.” Foster, who is also an accomplished pianist, contributed much of the piano on the album. Krall didn’t mind at all. “He’s such a sensitive accompanist and one of the greatest pianists I’ve ever worked with,” she says. “So I didn’t want to say to myself, ‘You’d better play piano or people will think you’re not playing piano anymore.’ I know I play jazz piano.”

Belousov Vitaly/Itar-Tass/Landov

Onstage in Moscow, 2009

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