Diana Krall - All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio

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• KRALL DIANA ALL FOR YOU (TO THE NAT KING COLE TRIO)

Music reviews of All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio

Music Review: Surprised That I Bought This First
Rating: 5 Stars

For someone raised on the pop and rock sounds that came out of the 60's hearing a trio play mostly without percussion was a revelation. When I clicked the local FM station back on after several hours with All For You as music while I worked, the incessant snare of the rock beat pounded in my head like waking up to a jack-hammer on the street below. I have _not_ been listening to jazz for decades. That's the point. I learned a lot about Nat Cole's early career that was unkown to me from the CD notes. If I hand't been able to listen to samples of this album, I would have considered it last because of the Nat Cole connection. I am in debt to Diana Krall for bringing to my attention music I would have never listened to without experiencing her love for it.

I am in agreement with the other reviewers here that this is a great CD to unwind to, with its spare arrangements and quiet presence, not sleepy or mushy with strings. I love the playful Frim Fram Sauce, which Diana makes her own on this performance. Errand Girl for Rhythm is exactly what Diana becomes on this CD, supplying us with a steady telegraphing of her gifted jazz piano. You're Looking at Me is delivered with knowing sophistication the lyric deserves. I enjoy the simpler arrangements and intuitive playing of All For You more than any of her later CD's containing lush string arrangements that just sound studied and distant to me. The guitar work of Russell Malone is very tasteful, blending well with Diana's piano.

This CD has a very intimate and immediate sound. The recoding mikes each player very close, making for the intimate sound of this performance. You feel as if you're right in the middle of Krall, Malone and Keller as they play. Each instrument (including her voice) can be heard distinctly. There is no "wall of sound" or distant miking and mushy strings to come between you and the artist.

The production on Diana's early efforts, such as her first CD and Love Scenes, is uneven and less polished in comparison to the effort lavished on All For You. That is partly why I chose this as the first Diana Krall CD I bought. Unlike the other CD's the mike level and quality does not vary wildly from song to song, which I find annoying.

If you have a strong liking for this recording you will probably have a strong dislike for Diana's later recordings made in lush string settings that place her and the band at a sonically distant location, as we are listening to the band at the back tables of a smoky nightclub in the '50s. The kind of stuff you'd expect to be playing on a penthouse hi-fi in an old movie. Diana does a solid job with the standards on When I Look in Your Eyes and continues the evolution on her new recording The Look of Love. But I can't help but think marketing forces are behind this transformation to the kind of sentimental, mushy sound that Nat Cole was doing by the time of hits like The Christmas Song. I'd like to think it's just Diana's changing sensibility, but could the same process be at work? I say this because I think if you're put off by her latest effort, then by all means try one of her earlier recordings.

Description of All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio

Broadway & Vocalists CDs

• Music > Styles
• Jazz
• Pop