DIANA KRALL
With Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
The Sydney Entertainment Centre has the benefit of being one of the largest music venues in Sydney, but there is something immediately suspicious about presenting jazz in such an environment. However, if there is anyone who can warm to a stage designed for extravagance, it is Melody Gardot. Gardot arrived on stage in heels, a button up top and skirt and black cane, her freshly blonde hair streaming down past dark sunglasses into the open top of the piano she struck and strummed freely, building a wall of sound…an emotional momentum which would carry her through the strikingly beautiful Love Me Like a River Does, and an upbeat jungle take on the title track of her first album, Worrisome Heart. The band was in on the game from the very start, letting Melody star on Piano, Electric and Acoustic Guitar before ending up behind a microphone stand, as a hip swivelling Mia Wallace doppelganger with a voice to match. Melody carries off the rock-star image no matter what genre she’s engaged in, her look hinting towards the subtler Gaga creations. My only would be to see her for an extended period of time with more freeform improvisation; a pitfall of the short set which both Gardot and Peyroux had to contend with. I have no doubt that given the space to design a full show, Gardot would show her potential for being every bit the showstopper as those who have come before.
Although I have enjoyed Madeleine Peyroux’s recorded material, and thought she was a good inclusion in the line-up stylistically, her performance style seemed to border on Folk music, and this distinction taken to its extent resulted in a somewhat inaccurate performance. However, this could be due to the sleep deprivation all three performers seem to be contending with. Gardot commented specifically that it was a short tour with very few dates, but a lot of flights. Diana Krall, with her headline length set, was always most likely to succumb to the pressures of such intense travel.
It could be difficult to discern from the outside, the intricacies which set up this trio of jazz stars as the perfect combination. I was pleasantly surprised to see Melody Gardot as the first support; her vocal aesthetic is heartfelt and undeniably smooth. Melody’s brand of piano jazz acted as a slowly enveloping introduction to the genre, followed up by Peyroux whose accent, almost Bostonian (but dulcet, if you can imagine such a combination) plays over a more soulful, modern take on the genre. Finally, Diana Krall has achieved a level within her own style where she is extraneously involved with orchestral instrumentation and increasingly lush soundscapes.
It must be said that Krall’s performance was not what I expected. Her latest album is not out of the ordinary – many jazz musicians will take the time to release a record which focuses intently on one genre, or artist. However, a live version of Quiet Night‘s smooth Latin would prove quite boring. Instead, Krall showed off her talents on the piano, and, of course, the voice she has become world renowned for. She is a monster piano player, far beyond her reputation in that area – a fact easily lost in the world of recorded material. Live, her musical interaction on both piano and vocals is incredibly adept and she clearly defines herself as a musician who has come to stardom in a traditional way, rather than being shot to fame from inexperience. After an incredible last song (an arrangement of Cheek to Cheek which was easily the highlight of her set) featuring the virtuosic talents of her ensemble, she returned to do two encores. As the night drew to a close, she finished singing a verse, stood up and left the stage. Though the audience cheered, it seemed immediately odd to me that she did not acknowledge the crowd, or bow, for her final exit. The song itself continued instrumentally for at least another minute before stopping at what may or may not have been its intended conclusion. It is entirely possible that the sleep deprivation of the tour had begun to get to all three singers and Krall, after an energetic hour and a quarter on stage, had simply reached her limit. Her banter is, she openly admits, a little off the wall, beginning the night by talking about her sleep deprivation and then leading into a small ramble about what it was like to breastfeed twin boys, but I began to feel like her scattered state was more than a personality trait, returning later with the arbitrary sequence “I carry a Buzz Lightyear phone in my purse… I met Buzz Aldrin.” It seemed that the long flights which Gardot pointed out at the beginning of the night were taking their toll, and Krall’s own admission of ‘sleep deprivation’ was more serious than she let on.
