Event: Diana Krall
Location: Schermerhorn Symphony Center
Date and Time: Thursday, July 19, 2007 8pm
Genre: Jazz - Quartet (piano, guitar, bass, drums)
Other Opportunities to Attend: None - one night only

Diana Krall was a master at the piano, giving a well-paced and fun performance tonight with her quartet of Jeff Hamilton on drums, Robert Hurst on bass, and Anthony Wilson on guitar. A bright spot was the drum playing of Jeff Hamilton who lit up the drum kit at all opportunities, eliciting a wow from the audience during one solo. Robert Hurst was solid on the bass. Anthony Wilson seemed a little lazy in the accent role during others’ solos but his own solos were quite good and made up for any deficiencies.

They opened with “I Love Being Here with You”, the same opener as the Live from Paris album. That song started the evening well with its quick tempo and ample space to allow solos from each of the four performers. The night was not all upbeat tempos and solo breaks in quartet. Krall had a couple exclusives with just her and the piano punctuated well by the ballad “A Case of You”. Her reflective nature was apparent in her selections for the night. Many of her songs were from the Nat King Cole dedicated album including “‘Deed I Do” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.

Krall gave nice breaks to the music with some humor and stories about being married to Elvis Costello, having twin boys, meeting George Jones, baby weight and breast feeding.

They capped off the night with a two song encore. The final song was “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” of BeeGees fame. Her version was lightyears better than the ‘original’.

Overall, it was a very entertaining evening of jazz at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Here is where we would normally put information about future performances. However, this was a one night only affair so if you missed it, you will have to catch Diana Krall somewhere else.