Diana Krall: Glad Rag Doll (Verve)
Krall takes a side trip into the 1920s and shows a bit of thigh on the album cover. Evidently, that’s all it takes to get the music business stirred up and the tweets and sales figures flying. How’s the music? Not bad. On some tracks, she has fun. On others—well, how much uplift could anyone get from “Here Lies Love?” The harmonies, if not the lyric, of “Let it Rain” inspire animation in her voice. Glad Rag Doll won’t replace Live In Paris, but the collection is interesting, a bit odd and worth more than one hearing.
The nonagenarian pianist presented de Barros with every biographer’s hope, unrestricted access to his subject’s personal papers and nearly unrestricted access to her private thoughts. He made the most of it, turning exhaustive research and hundreds of hours of interviews into a true story with the sweep of a novel. From the early discovery of McPartland’s musical gift through her wartime service, her ecstatic and stormy marriage to Jimmy McPartland, her growth as a pianist, her deep affair with Joe Morello, and the radio show that made her a national figure, she has had a fascinating life. It makes a splendid read.
Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band had three fewer musicians than most big jazz outfits. Its size permitted precision, flexibility and subtlety, yet the band had the power of sprung steel. In this concert from a half century ago, the CJB is as fresh as yesterday. Arrangements by Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn and Johnny Mandel set standards to which big band writers still aspire. Bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Mel Lewis inspired Mulligan, Brookmeyer, Conte Candoli, Gene Quill and Zoot Sims to some of the best soloing of their careers. This beautifully produced issue of the complete concert is a basic repertoire item.
That’s an excellent album, and without the tiresome Buddy Miller country tune ‘Wide River to Cross’ (not from the 20′s) it would be an even better one. Btw: Jazz blogger Bruno Leicht has compiled a whole lot of the originals in a top-notch posting.
I wouldn’t disagree with your “interesting, a bit odd and worth more than one hearing” but for my more jazz-flavoured taste, I have enjoyed more, “Do Something” from Hanna Richardson and Phil Flanigan, which takes a somewhat similar genre – this time from the Thirties – and has a lot more fun. Superbly crafted gems, each with a new timeless twist both vocally and instrumentally, with Randy Reinhart and other friends. Already played four times in two weeks.