What’s wrong with Diana Krall?

@bac2vinyl, please don’t assume that just because no one would pay you a $100.00 an hour to watch you work that they wouldn’t pay me $100.00 an hour to see me ply my trade. Cheers.

@ibmjunkman, his timing was near perfect, but as they say accidents will happen, or perhaps it was a brilliant mistake and he’s ended up really mystified in possession of all this useless beauty.

Maybe she now thinks he’s the imposter with the mouth almighty? Hopefully clowntime is over and they can both get happy.

Diana Krall; One of the worst female jazz/pop vocalists to come along in the last 20 years. Why? She can't sing. "Talks" her lyrics into the mike instead of "singing" them. Has no vocal projection at all. Never did. Some people say that this is her "style". It's not a singing style, that's for sure. Want to hear someone that can sing? Listen to Jane Monheit or Jacintha. If DK is ill, I wish her well. But I never considered her as a singer.

I have never had the privilege of hearing Diana Krall in concert, but I have (and enjoy much) several of her recordings. Do I enjoy as much as Nora Jones, Sarah Brightman, Allison Krauss, Jane Monheit, Jennifer Warnes etc, etc? Not sure I could ever say, as I enjoy and appreciate each in their own right.
I always loved the music of Eddie Rabbit and was overjoyed when we (wife and I) received, for his local concert, a special invitation which included front row seats and back stage passes, through the local radio station that we did a great deal of business with. We were a bit disappointed in the overall performances and in getting to meet him back stage as he seemed a bit withdrawn and eager to depart from the small group. I learned a short time later that he had not been feeling well and it was not very many more months after that, that died of cancer. I now have an even deeper love of his music and an appreciation for the fact that he was even there for the performance.
I believe the OPs post is very tasteful, with a legitimate amount of concern; we sometimes really don't know what's happening behind the scenes.
@n80  Thanks for reminding us to be civil.........Jim

Diana Krall; One of the worst female popular vocalists to come along in the past 15 years. Why, she can't sing. Never could. "Talks" her lyrics into the mike instead of "singing" them. She has no vocal projection at all. Can't seem to hold a note. Want to hear someone that can sing?. Listen to Jane Monheit. Absolutely gorgeous voice. Some people say that this is DK's style. That's fine. If she is ill, I hope she gets better. I just don't understand her popularity.

@michael8 Diana Krall; One of the worst female popular vocalists??? WOW! That's harsh!
I never thought of Neil Young, Bob Dylon, Van Morison or Bruce Springsteen as being great vocalists, but in terms of being great artists, recording stars, story tellers and incredible performers, they are, each, among some of the greats. I have (and do enjoy) a good many of their recordings.
It’s been stated many times over "You’ve never really been to a performance until you’ve been to see THE BOSS"
Beyond personal opinion, who are we to say? I would say that history has judged, them each, quite well.......Jim

None of these will be known in 50 years ,hardly history .

@schubert   Like Bowie, Prince?  Whether you like them or not, Dylan and Young are cultural poets whose works will live on long past us.

@schubert Well, Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode is out there on Voyager 1, and will be rock'in long after you’re gone.

dgarretson
Good to see you-  Happy Holidays!

SHE'S PRETTY GREAT IN MY OPINION. OTOH, I saw Frank Zappa, who was undoubtably a genius, play brilliantly in one concert and played badly (he stunk IOW) at another concert, which turned out to be a total waste of time. Dianne's"live in Paris" record is truly wonderful- she seems so in touch with the audience where she (apparently) gets a lot of inspiration from. It is too bad musicians aren't always in touch with that "thing" that makes them play their hearts' out. But I reject those people that say she's not talented. No, she's not MCcoy Tyner, but she sings with real feeling AND plays at the same time, and has a terrific ensemble on stage with her. She does over play the sex appeal thing but she has to please the record company until she comes out on her own label.

This thread is, to me, worth as I realized that I do not have to hide anymore. I am not alone. I am on the list of people who are not impressed by Diana Krall, much less Norah Jones, and, if I may add, Elvis Costello (he is the biggest puzzle in that trio, to me, and I am afraid I am alone on this one). Those who like them should enjoy, a few of us who are not their biggest fans should skip. At the same time, we should be allowed to shrug our shoulders while quietly walking away.

To whoever mentioned Sid Vicious...thank you. His My Way, now you are talking about expression. It moves. It is quite unexpected to see him mentioned in a thread about Diana Krall, though.

Quickly googling "Diana Krall cancelling shows" brings links that reveal that she has cancelled in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2018, at least. It seems it is always illness-related. Bad luck for a singer to have to cancel shows yearly (one was the whole tour, from what it seems).

Krall is considered a Jazz artist, a field not unfamiliar with substance abuse. I was an early fan of Costello (on his first album the band was San Francisco-based Clover, whose members included Huey Lewis on mouth harp), but have never liked The Attractions, and soon tired of Costello's out-of-control vocal vibrato.

Van Morrison not a great vocalist? What, you must be kidding.  Goodness he still has it! 

Van Morrison was already a great singer when the debut Them album was released in 1964. Listen to him on "Baby Please Don't Go" (a Big Joe Williams song from 1935!) and "Here Comes The Night" (written by Bert Berns). He, like Stevie Winwood, already sang like a man. Winwood was 16 years old when The Spencer Davis Group recorded "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm A Man"! 

Spot on.  

n80, Few classical music lovers would think jazz bad taste , many are jazz fans themselves .Most I know think of rock as bad to horrible taste . They don't hate people who love rock, they pity them . It's pitiful to watch a half dozen
guys well into their 60's argue about which Metal Band was the greatest as I did at audio society meeting recently .
There are always exceptions , forces of nature that defy the general , such as Van Morrison , Johnny Cash , Ray Charles ,etc . .

@ rannyring
I always thought of Van Morrison as one of the greats. Between LPs and CDs, I have nearly all of his recordings and love them all.
I can't imagine anyone, with a nice system, who could kick back with a smooth drink and listen to "These Are The Days" (last track on Avalon Sunset) and not be moved.........Jim

@schubert......Back when 8 track was still the big thing, I was the only kid in the clan to have, in my collection of tapes, an assortment of - Cream, Blind Faith, The Stones, Dean Martin and Benny Goodman. Go figure - I still like em all.......Jim

I have been a DK fan for as long as I can remember.  Pretty sure I have every CD.  Some are better than others.

I never understood the Elvis Costello thing.

I saw her in June at the Smart Center in Sugarland (Houston).  I paid a premium for seats on the 6th or 7th row.  Great new venue, by the way.  I thought she was very good.  Not great, but still quite enjoyable.

I agree that there were entirely too man extended improvisations by the other band members.  They are all very talented, but they are not the reason I was there.

She also flubbed a few lyrics on some of the up-tempo songs.  She was personable between songs, but she must be ADHD, because she had trouble finishing a though without getting off-track.

Bottom line, she's a very talented human. 

Sorry OP's experience didn't meet expectations.  Mine were.

Mystic Eyes is one of my early favourites of Van Morrison!

also liked his Georgie Fame collaboration a lot.

as usual Bdp24 shows the extreme depth of his wisdom when it comes to anything music related! 

I do believe the forum would be fine without threads like this.

I do believe you are incorrect .

I often wondered about others taste in music, until I realized all of the different components involved in it; whether a person is from the hills of Appalachia, the skyscrapers of New York, or the blue grass of Kentucky; these are all factors involved in one's taste in music. DNA is even a factor; that's right, your ancestors genes carry over into your preference in music; this could explain your fascination with Native American Tom Toms, or God forbid, your attraction to the the African Talking Drum.

I saw Diana live last summer and thought her show was so-so. I do like her style and certainly enjoy her "Live in Paris" CD. Unfortunately her show sounded like all the musicians were just going through their paces. nothing stood out. She did not play a single tune I knew so perhaps it was just all new material. Sounded like practice to me.

As for vocal style, some people say some artists can sing and others can't but the way I look at it is, they put out a sound. If you like the sound great, if not you move on. I sat front row at a Neil Young concert and it was simply amazing that he could command the attention of the entire venue with his voice and an acoustic guitar. How many artists can do that? Can Neil sing? Hell yes he can! Can Diana Krall sing? Sure in her own style, take it or leave it.

Another thought here All;since DK has been around since the early 1990's, perhaps, she has peaked as an artist and performer? If so, I can live with her body of work (catalog).   Happy Listening!

Diana Krall, along with Michael Buble is amongst the best of our generation. You can take that whichever way you want, but I think at her best she is awesome.

Besides, which Hi-Fi show would be complete without the following classic.

https://youtu.be/97yf3nqb-Fk

speaking of... I could do without some of Ella Fitzgerald's recordings, and she is in a class by herself. She belabors some of her songs in live settings, over-embellishing, scatting endlessly, just getting on my nerves.
Is that/should that be significant? Not really, but when she sings "the American songbook" in the studio, I melt into my chair. Yellow Basket is so silly it's magnificent. Is all of Billy Holliday's material great? When she was stoned and her voice was at 30%? Do I love her? Of course. We tend to judge people out of context to the time, the venue, the amount of energy a performance demands. Were the Beatles always on THEIR game? What about the New England Patriots? They lost to Miami on Sunday?? That made me happy, but it NEVER should have happened, right?  Don't lecture jazz fans about who's perfect and who's not.
Orchestras have time to prepare and time to rehearse. Not everyone has 
that privilege. And even then the soloist comes down with the flu...

@french_fries, yes it's all a question of taste. I'd rather the smooth sound of Ella or Diana rather than the squeal of Billie or the histrionics of Aretha.

That's not to say both Fitzgerald and Krall don't occasionally stray into territories I find bland, but that's my problem.

As for the Beatles, all other bands must look and wonder how..

I am a huge fan of the Beatles, but the Rolling Stones wrote some pretty amazing material. I never gave them the full credit they deserved. 
There were many superb rock groups that also deserve a ton of credit for their contribution so I won't list them. But ALL of them had their "off" days. I can't imagine Mozart not finding the right notes for his latest score, but I'm sure it happened every once in awhile. Not Bach of course...

Yes! I had the same experience. Twice. Once at her performance at the Beacon Theater in NYC a few years ago and recently at a “special “ performance at the Rainbow Room with Tony Bennett. At the Beacon she did everything as you described. At the Rainbow Room she was unapproachable, unlike Tony Bennett who posed for a selfie with me. I paid $1,000 for a VIP ticket and was treated like a poor relation. Something is wrong. In fact that’s how I found your post here. I googled “does Diana Krall hate her fans”.

'Few classical music lovers would think jazz bad taste , many are jazz fans themselves .Most I know think of rock as bad to horrible taste . They don't hate people who love rock, they pity them .' 

I think you're talking about an elderly generation that is dying off and did not grow up with rock. They are disappearing fast at this point. I haven't found it true of those that grew up with rock. I listen to mostly classical but also to jazz and rock.

There are interestingly artists who are more consistent than others in providing what the audiences came to hear. I've never heard of anyone complaining about Elton John or the Stones for example. I heard Joan Sutherland a number of times and she always delivered the goods. I saw Ella at Radio City which turned out to be not much before she had her feet amputated. I lucked out. I got a single 3rd row center to a sold out performance. The Music Hall didn't exist. I might as well have been seeing her in a nightclub. She was very wonderful. I felt privileged and it's a night I'll never forget. A dedicated performer even at the end of her career.

No such as 'good taste or bad taste', its just whether a given type on music fits one's particular palate. 

NONSENSE

roxy, you are largely correct and that's a bad thing .

I didn’t realize  people actually liked her music. I always thought it was just for showing off your rig to the uninitiated.

I won't say I dislike her, I don't, but she's a working musician who sells well. She's had amazing experiences and learned a great deal, so it's' very interesting to hear her interviewed.


Unfortunately I think she is overshadowed by the musicians she has playing with her.


Best,
E

For a multitude of reasons I have never liked Diana Krall. For me, her 'style,' if you call sounding like you just got out of bed and decided to try singing a style, is thoroughly obnoxious to me. Yes, she has a talent on piano, and yes, she's fortunate to have wonderful musicians backing her up, but on her own, all by herself, no thank you! 

If you think you don't like Diana Krall then listen to this and think again. 

https://youtu.be/icx4yV6TJkM

As they say "What's not to like?

We will see her on September 18

Some would say every day is not right to listen to her.