The Great Canadian Road Trip…Song #65/250: The Look of Love by Diana Krall

I don’t know about you but some styles of music evoke such concrete images in my mind. For example, whenever I listen to almost any song performed by Canadian Jazz singer Diana Krall, I am transported to an environment filled with candlelight or a roaring fire in the hearth, an otherwise darkened room, a glass of wine at the ready and my beloved by my side. We may be dancing cheek to cheek, and, if not that, then, we are certainly side by side, nestled together as young lovers should be. Diana Krall’s music has always been delivered in a velvety smooth manner, sparkling like starlight. Her music style is the antithesis of the frenetic energy of the world of Punk rock that I also enjoy when the mood calls for that. Krall’s Jazz stylings are the musical equivalent of rich chocolate slowly melting in your mouth. She relaxes you with her piano and her voice and makes you feel as though there is no one in the world but you and the one you love and that everything is going to be just fine. It is not without merit that Diana Krall is viewed as being one of the world’s greatest Jazz singers in the past quarter century. She has earned every breathless compliment. This is her story. 

Diana Krall was born in 1964, which makes her the exact same age as me. Even though we both qualify now for the senior’s discount at many local stores, she seems to be aging gracefully, while I seem to be happy when I successfully bend down and straighten up again without incident. Diana Krall was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Her parents were not professional musicians themselves, but both loved music and filled their family home with the sounds of singing and of piano playing. Diana Krall was drawn toward the piano and began taking formal music lessons through the Royal Conservatory of Music as a preschooler. *(As a personal aside, I once spent a month of my life working as a telephone solicitor for The Royal Conservatory of Music while I lived in London, Ontario. Making cold calls is a tough gig. It isn’t for everyone. Kudos to those who can do it well). In high school, when many kids were forming rock bands, Krall joined the school Jazz band. From there, she began appearing in local coffee houses as a solo artist who sang Jazz standards while patrons poured tips into her jar. In the early 1980s, Diana Krall enrolled in Berklee College of Music in Boston. This was not long after another famous Canadian musician, Bruce Cockburn, had come and gone from Berklee, as well. 

Diana Krall released her debut album in 1992. By 1996, she earned her first Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Album of the Year for an album of Nat King Cole classics. In 2000, she toured the world with crooner extraordinaire Tony Bennett. As part of that tour, she and Bennett appeared together on Canadian television on a show hosted by musician Elvis Costello called Spectacle: Elvis Costello With…. That guest appearance was the first step in a relationship that would see Krall and Costello marry in 2003. Not only did they become husband and wife, but they also began a collaborative musical partnership that has seen Costello write lyrics for original music for Krall to record while she has supplied instrumental accompaniment on songs of his. The two remain happily married to this day. In 2006, Diana Krall released an album called The Look of Love. The album title was in reference to a song that was originally written by Burt Bacharach and his musical partner Hal David back in 1967. When this song was initially released, Diana Krall was learning to play the piano in her family home and was only one year away from entering the Royal Conservatory of Music at age 4. In any case, the Bacharach/David composition was first recorded by Jazz legend Stan Getz, but it really gained fame when recorded shortly thereafter by singer Dusty Springfield for inclusion on the soundtrack to the James Bond film Casino Royale.  Burt Bacharach and Hal David were nominated for Academy Awards for this song. As for Springfield, she earned herself a Top Twenty hit with it. Flash forward almost a half century later, The Look of Love became a multi -platinum album for Diana Krall. Like Dusty Springfield, Krall’s whispery take on the song brought her into the Top Twenty charts, too. While all of Krall’s albums have sold consistently well throughout her career, The Look of Love is the one that sold the best and really cemented her reputation as a Jazz singer of note around the world. Overall, she has sold over fifteen million records worldwide. She has also earned multiple Grammy and Juno awards, too.

Going to a live concert is a funny experience in many ways. Most concerts that I have attended in person have been raucous affairs that have gotten my heart pumping and my blood flowing. If at the end of the concert I wasn’t soaked in sweat, then I guess I just wasn’t trying hard enough. But not all concerts are the same. A Diana Krall concert is a case in point. Her shows are exercises in class and professional musicianship. I enjoy her live music performances in part because of how crystal clear each note is that emanates from her piano or from the instruments being played by the members of her orchestra. The crispness of these notes in combination with the clarity of each word she sings makes the mellowness of it all almost excruciating to experience, but, in a good way. It is almost too pleasurable, from a music lover’s point of view. The artistry on display from Diana Krall and her orchestra is second to none. I also find her singing style extraordinary as well. The timbre of her voice is so deep and rich, but yet, when she sings, it seems almost completely effortless. I can’t think of another singer….and I know many….who appear so stoic, so completely in control of the muscles in their neck and throat area, as to seem completely still as does Diana Krall when she sings. That lack of muscle contortion when singing seems almost spellbinding in a way. Krall draws you in with her voice, holds your gaze with the calmness of her demeanor as she wrings every drop of emotion from the standards she sings and leaves you spent at the end. If I didn’t know better I would say that she is part siren. I certainly do wish that many of today’s young female singers would take note of how Diana Krall goes about her business. She has an air of sensuality about her that is all breath and body control. There is no need for her to perform half in the nude to cast a spell over her audience. She is the complete package just by being herself. 

Having said all of that, I have to admit that Diana Krall’s form of Jazz is something that I have to be in the mood for in order to enjoy. Much of the time, her music moves too slowly for my sensibilities. But then again, there are other times when a good torch song is exactly what the doctor ordered. InAt times like that, Diana Krall is definitely my go-to source. As far as careers go, she has to be very proud of the one that she has created for herself. Right from her earliest days living at home in Nanaimo, B.C., Diana Krall has been all about the music and how it can be used to create feelings of warmth and safety and pleasure for those who hear it. She has made a career out of singing in a style that suits her skill set perfectly. She has toured with the finest musicians in her orchestra and has the most special musical collaborator in the form of her husband, Elvis Costello *(whom she calls Declan when the two of them are at home). All in all, Diana Krall remains one of Canada’s most successful and respected musical acts. I congratulate her on the excellence of her career to date and look forward to her enjoying many more years of success. 

The link to the official website for Diana Krall can be found here.

The link to the video for the song “The Look of Love” by Diana Krall can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.

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