Diana Krall coninuea Do you still do piano exercises? (Laughing with some embarrass- ‘ment—indicating a reply in the neg- ive.) Ask my mother! You've said that pianist Dave McKenna was a big influence. He has a lot of weight in bis piano sound, and you play with the same kind of strength in your fingers. How did that come about? He’s one of my Dad’s favorite piano players, and mine. I listened to a lot of his work for solo piano, and learned bass lines from him. ve loved Dave since I was in high school and I've got all his records. It was a very big deal for me when I finally went with my dad to hear him in Boston. 1 was seventeen, and studying at the Berklee school But that strength also comes from the fact that for a long time I played solo piano gigs, six hours a night. And that meant playing walking bass lines—just like Dave McKenna Thad a gig in Boston early on, with a great bass player named Whit Brown, We played every night for four years and used the opportunity to work out tunes. But the place was empty, so I wasn't getting any kind of reaction—it was just us and my dear friend, Mr. Manning, who used to sit in the corner and listen to us. [Editor's note: the room might have been empty then, but today. Diana Krall’s month-long appear. ances at the Algonquin Hotel in New York are completely sold out! To this day, I still do my practic- ing on the bandstand, and in sound checks, And I still write arrange- ‘ments in rehearsal, rather than plan- ning things out ahead of time. You seem to have a great deal of respect for the elder statesmen of the tradition. T just came back from a festival in Switzerland, where T heard Hank Jones, Ellis Marsalis, Clark Terry, ‘Doc Cheatham, Warren Vaché, Betty varter, and Nancy Wilson. They were all unbelievable, The night before my band was to perform, we just sat, all of us, right by the piano, and listened to three sets of Hank Jones, Talk about beauty and econo- my! Artistry, simplicity, but still swinging. It was one of the most inspiring performances I've ever heard, Hank really gives you lessons in harmony. We were all just astounded, T remember Ray Brown telling me that when he first came to New York he was staying at the YMCA, and he thought he heard someone downstairs playing an old 78 of Art Tatum. Then he realized it was a live performer; it turned out to be Hank Jones. Do you ever bear these players and try to do what they do? The very next night I tried t0 play something that I had heard him do, by incorporating a quote from “Moanin” into a solo. He had played Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin” during ‘one of his sets. Sometimes people say, “Oh, that tune’s been played to death.” But Hank puts so many dif= ferent harmonic changes into a piece that it becomes new; and I tried to watch his every move. In fact, T spent the whole night watch- ing his left hand, So sitting there for three hours did change the way T approached things the next day. It's important to be able to do that. To do what? To be open to influence. But I've always learned by watching. I used to sit at Jimmy Rowles’ side, day after day, just watching him play. What did you learn most from Jimmy Rovles? Well, what I think he taught me most, and it's still sinking in, was the sheer beauty of music. Now, there was actually a lot of virtuosity in Jimmy Rowles’ playing—especially harmonically (though it was all understatement). He wasn't a Phineas Newborn kind of techni- cian, but he had all the tools that he needed to express himself, He was a great solo pianist, a great stride play- et, he had all the history down. But what I learned from him was to appreciate the beauty of it. T can still see him sttting there— was only nineteen years old—talk- ing about Ravel's Daphnis and Chive, or Ben Webster. Beauty kept being the constant, And I didn’t real- ly start understanding that until a while ago. Then I began thinking about Nat Cole's music and the intangible things—that simplicity is the hardest thing to achieve: that his solos sounded simple, and that the arrangements sounded simple, but that they weren't simple at all, That was the key to things, and I learned it from Jimmy Rowles. Jimmy was very complex, harmonically, in his compositions, like "502 Blues" and “The Peacocks,” but it was a differ ent kind of complexity. He didn’t like unecessary showiness. He used to get kind of funny about this issue, you know, He'd get on the soapbox. Do you want to talk a little about bassist Ray Brown? He also became a kind of mentor to you. Yes, he's like a dad to me. I'm very close to my dad—but Ray's also 33Every night, I don’t know if it’s going to get to that point where the whole band will look at each other and go, “Abhhh!”—you know, an old movie kind of sigh. That’s the challenge. a kind of parent figure. He's still someone I call—I'm going to see him next week, actually, with my family, Ray's performing in ‘Vancouver, and I'm going home. I met Ray Brown through drum- mer Jeff Hamilton—who heard m at a jazz camp, the Bud Shank Jaz Workshop. They happened to be playing in my home town the fol- lowing month. I was playing at a place not too far away from where they were playing and Jeff brought Ray Brown in to see me. My mother and father had the whole band over for dinner. Jeff and Ray both sug- gested that T go California to study with Jimmy Rowles, Having the support of my peers is very important to me. Guitarist Russell Malone is basically a musical partner for me, and we talk about the music all the time and look at how the great musicians, like Hank Jones, are approaching things. I love so many of my peers, too—Benny Green and Mulgrew Miller and Renee Rosnes, especially. There are a lot of great pianists around, 34 11 must be an awful lot of fun to ‘meet all these icons of jazz as you ourself become more and more rec- cognizable. I've always believed that when you meet these people, naturally, You should not be too aggressive, What's weird now is they're sort of familiar with who I am. Clark Terry said, “Miss Krall, I wanted to meet you.” Nancy Wilson invited me to her dressing room and we talked and she gave me her telephone number and said, “Anytime you want to talk about anything, feel free to call me.” The whole band had dinner with her, and we had a blast. I always find that if you're honest about what you're doing, if you're sincere and you're working hard, these people are there for you and they're more than happy to be generous with their knowledge Betty Carter said so many encourag- ing words, and I was very grateful. ‘Another person whom I met recently was Johnny Mandel. One of the things Td like to do is take time to study with him—just go and watch him, T've been working on playing, and really working on my singing, and I'm finding it harder and harder to keep both at the same level. So Ti like t0 take some time to just really work on the piano. What new material are you work- ing on? You know, I went back to my Dad's 1933 dance folio songbook and found “A Garden In The Rain,” geal "IEE A Garden In The Rain and thought, “There’s nothing wrong with that!” Some of the old songs are fantastic. V'd like to make a fur recording, with some different tunes that haven't been overdone. Speaking of old songs, bow do you eep things fresh, even when you're repeating the same material alot? Every night, before I sing “You're Looking At Me” or “Ghost Of A Chance," I don't know if it's going to get to that magic. Every night, when play “Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby” or *You Call It Madness,” I don’t know if it’s going to get to that point where the whole band will look at each other and go, “Ahhhh!"—you know, an old movie kind of sigh, That's the challenge. Isaae Stern was talking about the bandstand being your laboratory— you're playing the same music every night. And he said that sometimes he's playing a piece that he's been playing for seventeen years, and all of a sudden it hits him, “That's 1” Playing this music, I find I'm staring to get inside it, And I'm thinking more about economy, about ju: playing block chords s quietly as possible and creating a beautiful melody, and about having. the ‘courage not to go all over the place. Tfind ita challenge every nigh. i See Diana Krall’s improvisation on “Frim Fram Sauce,” from her “All For You" CD, beginning on Page 36. James Dyrenforth and Caroll Gibbons Bo? BT Ab Ai oe] "Twas just a ‘gar-den in the rain, S58 Close to the Gm7b5) Clsust C7 Fm?) -Fm765)B}/B>F#°7 m7 BAT a Zee @ BS eS lit-te leaf-y lane, Intemational Copyrigit Secued All Copyright © 1928 enewed by Campbell Connelly Co, tt, Amps for he U's. Canada convo by Camp Coal ne CASCAP) : = A touch of col-or‘neath skies. of Right exer. Uae by PermisionLead Sheet For FrIM FRAM SAUCE Worps BY REDD EVANS Music By Jor RICARDEL ‘Moderate bounce 36 ° 7 08 (with ate) oe OS = Tdon'twant French fried po-ta-toes, red ripe to-ma-toes, I’m nev-er sat- is-fied. Di CP E+ Ebmaj? E°7 BY/F DI/F# GB GT oo ‘FT BO pp ~ = —— = © - ~~ | 6 ee oa me f _ [want the frim fram sauce with the aus - sen fay, with cha - fa-fa on the side. E°? FT BHO ce Gm? ° SS. "7 don’t want pork chops and ba-con that won't a-wak-en my ap-pe-tite_ in-side. Di! Co BE Bbmaj? E°7 BY/F Di/Fe GB o _ 1 want the frim fram sauce with the aus - sen fay, with cha- : Ce F9sust FT BO Ab6 A® BO EST Fm7 ‘Bo Fm? Bb a = = OF S fa-fa, on the side,___ Nowa fel-low’s real-ly got to eat,_ And a B6 BITES) ENG Gm? co F FeT 4 SS = —— —r fel-low should eat right. Five will Gm? Co Fsus4 FT E°7 F7 BIO get you ten, SS ae te feedmy-selfright to-night. don'twant fish cakes and rye bread, you heard what I said. DY © EP Ebmaj? E°7 Wait -er, please serve mine 1 want the fim fram sauce with the BUF DIRE GS Gl 9 BSsust FT BIS |. Cm? BT F7 2. BS BHO. _— Ge <5 ——= ¢ se 2 j= aus - sen fay, with cha - fa-fa, on the side. T don’t want Copyright © 1946 (Renewed) by Music Sales Corporation (ASCAP) Invernatonal Copyright Secured, Used by permission. All Rights Reserved. 35