Diana Krall - All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio
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Free Music Notes for All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio
Free Music Review: you won't be disappointed
Hit: 5 Stars
Diana Krall scored a hit of her own with this very beautiful tribute to The Nat King Cole Trio. All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio certainly could have had more than twelve songs to it; but what we do get is choice material! Diana sounds great and the emotion in her voice is touching. The artwork is very pretty and the quality of the sound is excellent.
"I'm An Errand Girl For Rhythm" has a great jazzy arrangement; and Diana handle the subtle tempo changes like the champ she was and still remains! The music that goes along with her singing is very well done. "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You" is a major highlight of this CD; Diana delivers this by giving her blood and the piano solo is enchanting to say the least. "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You" is an example of The Nat King Cole Trio at their very best when interpreted by a modern day artist. Similarly, "Frim Fram Sauce" was always a favorite Nat King Cole Trio tune of mine. Diana sings "Frim Fram Sauce" to perfection--and beyond! Diana sings this like the professional chanteuse she is; and the catchy melody along with the memorable lyrics make "Frim Fram Sauce" a great number.
"Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" is clearly a more somber, pensive number than "Frim Fram Sauce." "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams," nonetheless, gets the royal treatment by Diana Krall and Nat King Cole and his buddies would be proud if they heard this today! "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" is yet another major highlight of this CD.
"Hit That Jive Jack" has a great 1940s rhythm to it; and "Hit That Jive Jack" really DOES swing and that's grand. "I'm Thru With Love," on the other hand, reverts to a more somber type of torch song that reminds me of what the great Billie Holiday might sing. Diana delivers "I'm Thru With Love" with great sensitivity and panache and the musical arrangement complements her singing flawlessly. Listen also for "A Blossom Fell" with its very beautiful piano playing. "A Blossom Fell" gets a fine treatment by Diana and the musicians who never miss a beat. The CD ends very well with Diana Krall performing "If I Had You." "If I Had You" simply must have been an instant classic; this number has class and Diana infuses it with a certain type of romantic flair that strikes me with its magnificence.
This is certainly an "essential recording" as Amazon claims it to be! I highly recommend this album for fans of the great Diana Krall; and people who remember The Nat King Cole Trio will enjoy this as well. The terrific musical accompaniments come to us mostly by Russell Malone on guitar and Paul Keller on bass. In addition, people who like classic pop vocals will not be disappointed.
Free Music Review: Oh, how can she not know how incredible she is...?
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm dead-up, I really can't believe how modest she is when it comes to the talent she possesses. I almost admire that quality about her. That she could make it all sound so effortless, but still be so humble in her every word. Put Diana Krall behind a piano along with her bassist Paul Keller and guitarist Russell Malone and she is somethin' else. But then give her a set list of twelve standards from Nat King Cole during his much-overlooked days with the Trio in the 1940s, and she is gonna give you what you're looking for and more. This is one of the best tribute albums I've ever heard, and instead of directly copying Cole's style, pianistically and vocally, she adopts the tunes on her own terms and allows the music and her influence to speak for itself. Her playing is refined and mannered, her vocals, 'specially on the ballads are romantic and elegant, and overall she jus' brings somethin' truly special to the table. She kicks the up-tempo and mid-tempo numbers with class and style like 'I'm an Errand Girl for Rhythm' a perfect way to open the set, 'Hit that Jive Jack' in which her group joins her on the vocal sing-along, and one of my personal favorite Cole recordings 'Frim Fram Sauce', that bouncy little who-knows-what-the-hell-it-means number, but the real stand-outs are the lush ballads. Hearing her sing tunes like 'You Call it Madness' and the absolutely stellar 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams', ah, it's that late night thang, fa'real, the kind that puts me in a smoky club at 2 a.m., the hour when everybody has gone home except the people with nothing to go home to but trouble. I'll smoke a cigarette, throw one back, and then lay my head on the bar, close my eyes and get lost in the beautiful elegant sounds of Ms. Krall crooning 'I'm Thru with Love' into that microphone. Oh, and when she sings 'A Blossom Fell', all the pain and heartache of the song comes pouring out. I'm dead-up, I could cry listening to this song, and it's my personal favorite number she does on this album. My other favorite directly follows it and that is 'If I Had You', in which Benny Green handles the piano, and Krall makes this a sorrowful, wistful number, very close to an all-out torch song. This music has been given beautiful treatment by a true student of one of the greats. Well, what else can I say, whether she's at the piano or singing, or both, she is somethin' special. Nat would be proud. This was the first piece of music I bought by her, an' I'm hooked.
Free Music Review: Krall's album is pure "Frim Fram Sauce"!
Hit: 5 Stars
Paying homage to the Nat Cole Trio, the most popular jazz combo of its day, Diana Krall (piano), Russell Malone (guitar), and Paul Keller (bass) bring some long-time favorites and some lesser known Cole Trio hits to life. The arrangements are terrific, ranging from slow, bluesy numbers, to swing, a torchy ballad, and forties-style jive. In every case, the emphasis is on the trio, and though Krall sings on every track, more than half of each song is instrumental, with extended solos on piano by Krall and guitar by Russell Malone.
Krall's voice is a full, sometimes husky, alto with very little vibrato, and though she can sing scat, and does on "Frim Fram Sauce," she is at her best singing slow songs of aching loss, where, occasionally, her phrasing reminds me of Sarah Vaughan. "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You," sung slower than Cole did it, is a sad, bluesy number with wonderful, casual jazz piano riffs. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," my favorite on the album, is torchy, the imagined tears kept under control as Krall pines for lost love, with the piano ranging into chromatic variations. In "You Call It Madness" and "I'm Through With Love," Krall keeps her voice whispery, singing slowly, almost confidentially, as she maintains the slow beat and melancholy mood. By contrast, "Hit That Jive, Jack," moves in a quick, toe-tapping rhythm, as Krall, Malone, and Keller sing together and have fun.
The album has plenty of variety to the selections and features three fine jazz instrumentalists who toured together and perfected their ensemble for several months before recording this album. With the earthy voice of Krall added to the instrumental mix, this album is certainly one of Krall's best--a huge success. There are no drums here (except on "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"), but that is not a limitation, and, in fact, may be an advantage, since the listener's attention remains focused on the tunefulness of the songs and their jazz variations. This is a fine homage to the Nat Cole Trio, which would have been justly proud of Krall's recording. Mary Whipple
Free Music Review: five stars aren't enough...
Hit: 5 Stars
I discovered this album because a friend of mine in the music industry (who doesn't know all that much about jazz vocalists) wanted to know if Diana Krall was as good as all the hype about her said she was. After a quick scan of the song list I replied that it would be easy to tell because she had a version of "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" and that was one of my favorite pieces -- not only one of my favorites, I said, but I have a recording on a mix tape at home by some woman (who's name escaped me) that I considered the definitive version of " Boulevard Of Broken Dreams". Two seconds into the song I realized that this was the woman. I said, " she's better".
Diana Krall's ability to interpret standards is truly amazing. I have a fairly extensive collection of jazz vocal albums and I place this one right up there at the top with singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hartman, Nat Cole & Billy Holiday -- not necessarily because they sound alike, but more because all of these artists can sing a song and make you hear it differently than you've ever heard it before.
Now I'm not going to try to convince you that all of her recording are flawless, but this one is a pure winner. There's not a bad track on here. Some of the stand outs are 'You Call It Madness', 'You're Looking At Me', 'A Blossom Fell', and of course my favorite 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams'.
I can't wait for Diana to outgrow this label. They spend way too much time trying to promote her image. It's not an insult to say that her image is the least of her qualities.
Free Music Review: If Nat were here, he would be smiling!
Hit: 5 Stars
As a die-hard fan of THE MAN, I am always skeptical of artists who attempt to remake Nat King Cole's songs. Many people fall short of recapturing the feeling that NKC evoked in his music. For years I have been in the frame of mind that only Natalie, Nat's daughter, and Freddie Cole, Nat's younger brother, were the only ones worthy of covering his material. Well, I admit I was wrong! Diana Krall and her trio have proved that. Unlike Natalie Cole's tribute, on which she concentrated more on his career as a pop balladeer, Diana Krall celebrates Nat, the jazz musician, when he performed with his King Cole Trio in the 1940s. They were extremely popular with fans of both jazz and R&B until Nat gave it up to become a pop singer in the 1950s. But the love we fans have of the music he created with his Trio lives on! Diana shows a genuine love for Nat on this CD by utilizing the same format that NKC did with his piano/bass/guitar group, and the results are amazing. You have Diana on piano and singing lead, Russell Malone on guitar, and Paul Keller on bass. It has become one of my favorites. I love Diana's smoky voice, and I love how she puts a female twist on these songs. My favorites are "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "The Frim Fram Sauce" and "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You", but everything is excellent, from start to finish. Take it from a Cole fan, this CD is a keeper!