More than 15 years into her highly successful career, Krall releases her 10th album, ``From This Moment On," today on Verve . Excluding last year's holiday album, it's the follow-up -- some might say rebound -- to ``The Girl in the Other Room," Krall's 2004 album that featured original songs co-written with hubby Elvis Costello.
Fans who balked at her singer-songwriter detour, and many did, will be elated to hear ``From This Moment On," a swinging return of the Diana Krall who will forever remind listeners of the sultry white jazz singers before her, most notably Julie London.
``Moment" is Krall's big-band album, full of upbeat tunes worthy of her idols, particularly Nat King Cole and Fred Astaire. And there's no discounting the energy and pizzazz. With the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra superbly backing her, Krall dives heartily into the material, proving she's just as effective a crooner as an Anita O'Day-caliber swinger. ``Day In , Day Out" encapsulates this spirit, with Krall just one step ahead of her fellow musicians: She's leading this dance, not them.
For such a razzle-dazzle album, it's the quieter moments that are most revealing. On ``Little Girl Blue," Krall finds new and exciting ways to mine the melancholy of lines such as, ``Why won't somebody send a tender blue boy/ To cheer up little girl blue?" It reminds you of Blossom Dearie's definitive, sad-eyed take on Rodgers & Hart's ``Manhattan."
But a bottle of chardonnay and a plate of brie later, what does this album leave you with? Not much, unfortunately. ``From This Moment On" indeed marks a different direction for Krall, but the safety and caution of her previous albums remain intact. Maybe her fans prefer it that way, but for the rest of us, we're still waiting to be surprised with a real curveball (perhaps an album of Kurt Weill songs?). You know Krall has it in her.
Not that any amount of criticism will keep this from being a huge success. After all, brunch and dinner parties happen every day.
