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Diana Krall: Rediscovering Vaudeville in Glad Rag Doll
Krall is one of the jazz world's uniquely eclectic artists who has built a respectable longevity with her career. She is consistent as a serious jazz artist, both in the recording studio as well as in her visual branding. When it comes to CD cover art, she appears to have garnered notable attention on a similar level to her musical artistry. Krall is fashion-driven, with a personal preference for 1940s Hollywood glamour, with a retro vibe particularly noted in her most recent release, Glad Rag Doll (Verve, 2012).
Glad Rag Doll is personal for Krall, and she's not the least bit shy with this one. Krall steps out modeling a lingerie ensemble in the cover photo, with comfortable humility and dignity that speaks enchantment as she appears to be daydreaming of a love afar. The cover captures her interpretation of the beauty of femininity and, for a moment, one would think it was a romance novel cover. Her influence for going avant-garde with a teddy and nylons originates from her personal desire to "play dress-up" as one of Alfred Cheney Johnston's Ziegfeld girls at least one time on a CD cover.
Glad Rag Doll introduces a new level of comfort in the depth of intimacy with Krall's vocal style. Krall brings her sultry jazz interpretations to vaudeville songs written between World War I and World War II. Her vocals are bluesy, with an accent of jazz. No large orchestras on this one. It's different. It's rudimentary. Voice and piano. Voice and guitar. She's returning to the music of trumpeter/singer
Louis Armstrong
trumpet and vocals1901 - 1971
Her jazz voice is soft, breathy and pronounced in "Garden in the Rain," with a raw presence delicately accented by soft piano licks. It is reminiscent of singer
Billie Holiday
vocals1915 - 1959
In "As Long As I Love," she speaks to the love of her life and shares a poetic serenade in lyrics that seem even conversational:
"You'll always be mine
I'll make a crown of sparkling stars for you
from the skies.
But how can I compare them to
the starlight shines in your eyes."
Krall shares, in song, the words of a woman in love who wants to hold on to that feeling with all she's got; and for a moment, she bares all her emotions clearly in lyrical tone and expression, with minimal instrumentation surrounding her vocals.
Where did this direction come from? Glad Rag Doll is personal for Krall. She travels back in time to her childhood and the 1920s music she grew up to love and cherish—the music of the era that gave way to the birth of jazz in New Orleans, an era that with which Krall became fascinated as a child, leading her to discover her own voice in jazz.
Krall partnered with singer/songwriter
Bob Dylan
guitar and vocalsb.1941
T Bone Burnett
producerb.1948
Krall interprets songs such as "We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye" with a subtle relaxed flair similar to 1920s jazz songstress Annette Hanshaw. She exposes her feminine vulnerabilities in her soft vocal delivery on "I'm a Little Mixed Up." She's artistic, as she plays with shades of blue in her vocal intonations of
Ray Charles
piano and vocals1930 - 2004
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
With the title track, Krall tells the story of the struggle for women's rights in the '20s through vocal sarcasm, in a tone that is slightly theatrical. Krall recreates that time in history with subtle emotion and story-driven lyrics.
For the jazz purist, this is not a typical record label release. This project is all Krall—her past influences, her present expression and her future vision, all wrapped up in one CD. She took time to put this together. She went back to her childhood and pulled songs from her father's collection. She listened to stacks of classic 78 records to select the songs for the final cut. It has been a project in the making for some time, a project that she was determined to record, and now she's done it—and this time, she did it her way.
Glad Rag Doll is filled with songs that tell the stories of love and romance, with Krall's recognizable vocal purity. Her intonation and interpretation of Vaudeville standards on this CD speak to her personal mastery of expression in mind, body and soul, through the timeless art form of jazz.
Tags
Diana Krall
Tell Me More
Belinda Ware
United States
California
Los Angeles
Louis Armstrong
Billie Holiday
Bob Dylan
T Bone Burnett
Ray Charles
Miles Davis
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Diana Krall
Cch - Congress Center Hamburg Saal 1Hamburg, Germany
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Stadsschouwburg AntwerpAntwerpen, Belgium
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KuppelsaalHannover, Germany
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LiederhalleStuttgart, Germany
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Beethoven Hall (beethovensaal)Stuttgart, Germany
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30
Tue
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BozarBruxelles, Belgium
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Wed
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Koninklijk Theater CarréAmsterdam, Netherlands
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4
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Symphony HallBirmingham, UK
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