It was always going to be just a matter of time before
Diana Krall would make a bossa nova record. Moving on from her early piano trio
days, her work has always moved towards the slower beat, and on ‘The Look Of
Love’ she even hired arranger Claus Ogerman, who added a touch of bossa to
proceedings.
So here it is; the ‘Diana Krall Does Bossa Nova’
album. But strangely for a bossa nova record, and even stranger given that the
title of this recording is named after one of The Maestro’s more famous tunes,
there is a surprisingly low number of songs here from Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Instead we have three Jobim tunes mixed with a blend of songbook standards and
ballads, performed in a bossa style.
‘Quiet Nights’ then is essentially the latest stage in
the unjazzing of Diana Krall. Sure, there’s a hint of samba here and there, but
mostly Krall operates in the slow and breathy whispery vocals that currently
are bringing smiles to record label accountants everywhere with the likes of
Melody Gardot and Norah Jones and their huge successes. Not that this would be
too much of a problem when tackling bossa nova, but at times her voice becomes
so breathy, it becomes lightweight and makes the songs sound simply tired.
Worst of all, returning for his first time since ‘The Look Of Love’ Claus
Ogerman again manages to cover everything in an anaemic glob.
The result is unpleasant at best. And certainly if you
love anything bossa or Jobim related, I’d advise you to stop reading now and
simply go and buy another copy of ‘Getz/Gilberto’ or check out anything by Eliane
Elias.
‘The Girl From Ipanema’ is re-read in its boy version
(always a bad start) and simply plods. Any tune or energy you’ve ever heard from
this classic is replaced with sleepy drawling, the song being for some
unfathomable reason being slowed down to half-speed as Krall wearily gasps the
words out. ‘Quiet Nights’ too suffers the slowing down treatment, but at least
retains its melody. Surprisingly, the third Jobim tune ‘Este Seu Olhar’ is
actually pretty good, with a subtle arrangement and a silky vocal delivered in some
very impassioned Portuguese.
Curiously the non-bossa tunes also suffer the plodding
and crawling fate. Having successfully rendered ‘The Look Of Love’ completely
uninteresting (a feat in itself) eight years before, attention is turned to
another Bacharach/David classic in ‘Walk On By’ – which is then remade into a
bloodless apology. ‘Everytime We Say Goodbye’ too is given perhaps its most
non-descript treatment ever.
‘I’ve Grown Accustomed To His Face’ is one of two
songs not done as a bossa number, but instead as a very slow ballad. And again,
it’s the slowness that kills it. You’ll be willing for the pace to pick up just
a little bit. The other song not in the bossa style is ‘Guess I’ll Hang My
Tears Out To Dry’, and rather pleasingly it feels perfectly paced, with Anthony
Wilsons silky and seductive guitar work raising it to an easy album highlight.
Intended as a ‘love letter for my husband’, it sounds
more like a (over) production job than a personal and intimate dedication. Aiming
for dreamy and sensuous gently swaying cocktail music, it instead – bossa or
not – gives us a distinctly unsexy expensively made collection of songs that
despite their high calibre, completely fail to engage. Not jazz, not bossa, it
is a clutch of outstanding compositions from the background of both reduced to
slow balladry, something that you would expect from someone of a much lesser
pedigree than Diana Krall.
Obviously going for the romantic and caressing, Diana
Kralls ‘Quiet Nights’ is more likely to instill drowsiness and instantly induce
narcolepsy. So there you go, this is ‘Diana Krall Does Bossa Coma’.
**
No comments:
Post a Comment