Diana Krall - Quiet Nights
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.53 You Save: $7.45 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.67 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music Reviews of Quiet Nights
Music Review: Heed Track #5: Walk On By!
Rating: 2 Stars
I'm not enjoying this CD. The vocals are too breathy, the selections too brooding, and I'm frankly bored with DK working the sexy vocal shtick. She is a phenomenal pianist, but seems to have traded those chops for vocals.
Her foray into the Jobim millieu should have ended with "The Look of Love." On this CD, her phrasing seems awkward, contrived and lacking conviction, and her attempt at portugese in track #7 is difficult to endure. I enjoy her most when she's interpreting standards, e.g., CDs "Love Scenes", "All For You", "Only Trust Your Heart." Pop tunes (at least here) are not her strength, as she never seems to find her place on "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" and "Walk On By."
While I'm not sure that Elias' ". . . Sings Jobim" (see my review) is a better offering, it does have one advantage in that, while Elias' vocals are annoying, they do not overshadow her peerless work at the keyboard.
Back to basics, Diana, please!
Music Review: What's happened to Diana?
Rating: 1 Stars
My first introduction to Diana Krall was the All for You album, covering some of the older Nat King Cole songs. I was fairly impressed. Enjoyable if somewhat mannered singing and decent piano chops. Unfortunately stardom seemed to lead to increasingly commercial outcomes. And while you can say the same for Nat King Cole as well (his diminished playing was a true loss), the talent and end results are not comparable. Nat's singing and stylings were peerless while Diana's is marginal. When listening to her sing on this album I can't help but wonder if Diana was not physically well (although she looks fantastic on the cover). And her playing which to me is the more compelling (if a bit mainstream) part of her talents, has just about disappeared here as well. As another reviewer mentioned, I thought Bacharach's Walk on By and and How Can You Mend A Broken Heart were among the few that I enjoyed at all. It was a shame as I really liked the song selection.Music Review: How disappointed!
Rating: 2 Stars
I cannot say how insipid this entire collection of music is. It's hard to tell where one song ends and another begins, because they all sound the same. The arranger Claus Ogerman has slowed every song (except So Nice) to a crawl, the rhythm is half time, and Diana sounds as if she is singing in her sleep. You just want to say: "spit it out, just sing the song!". I own several Diana Krall CD's, and have shelled out money to attend concerts, so I am not quite a causal fan. I love her music, this is NOT HER MUSIC! I bought the CD because of "Quite Nights", a particular favorite; it was butchered, I just wanted to cry. There is no heart in this piece of work and is beneath Diana. Each and every song has the potential to be great, and is when sung by so many others. The only song worth listening to is "So Nice", tempo and rhythm are there, and she sounds as if she is having a good time with it. I wasted my money, don't waste yours.Music Review: Middle of the road
Rating: 3 Stars
What sets Diana apart from those in her genre on previous outings is her unique voice, great jazz intonations and the ability to add tasteful improvisations to even the blandest of standards. This album lives up to it's title track in every way but even those desiring a musical quiet night look forward to an occasional mood change to keep things real. This album does not stray far from it's quiet mood and, but for her sultry, excessively breathy renditions, it possesses little else in Krall-esque quality. This is an overall good outing for the likes of lesser known, lesser talented artists a la Norah Jones, Jane Monheit and their ilk. But Diana's previous work strongly suggests hers is a talent that is anything but ordinary which, sadly, was not served well on this album. We die-hard Krall-ers now must await a fresh compilation probably called "The Morning After..." now that some producer's dream of a "Quiet Night" has ended!Music Review: Is it Krall or Julie London?
Rating: 3 Stars
The consensus here seems to be that this is a weak effort by the BC Thrush. Ogerman is Ogerman: he hasn't changed his way of arranging since President Obama was born. Against the mellow and somewhat generic cushion of string sound, Krall's piano and wonderful rhythm trio (a quartet with Paulinho Costa on percussion) don't make the impression they could if heard alone. Krall is very much in a retro groove and there are many moments when her understated and breathy vocal production is eerily identical to Julie London's. There's also a tendency at times to overarticulate in a "little girl" manner that isn't a good development. But the only real bummer on the album is "Este Seu Olhar," in which Krall has no clue how to sing Brazilian Portugese in a meaningful way--even as a purely phonetic rendition, the performance falls apart almost instantaneously. On the other hand, I think her cover of "Walk on By" is out of this world.