Diana Krall's Secret To Success Is Talent, Heart

Not a creature was stirring - as the old holiday poem goes - when Diana Krall took the stage at Jazz Alley this past Tuesday.

"This feels for me like coming home," said the Nanaimo, B.C.-born chanteuse. "It's good to be here."

Ditto. What a great way to start the Christmas season.

Krall, who appears with her trio through Sunday, is riding high, with the No. 1 record in jazz, "Love Scenes" (Impulse!). Her opening set proved that this 31-year-old singer/pianist is a performer who is going to be on top for a long, long time.

What's her secret? She'd tell you herself, in that plain-spoken, no-nonsense way of hers - if she weren't so modest - that her "secret" is just plain talent.

Krall's got the goods.

While many jazz singers dig deep for Billie Holiday licks, or try to scat like Ella Fitzgerald, Krall just sings the tunes she loves in a plain, straightforward style - with perfect intonation, great diction, total heart and a fetching timbre that's a bit like hard caramel, cracking. If you've heard Carmen McCrae (Krall has), you know what I'm talking about. And, also like Carmen, she plays piano with great time and big ears.

She opened with an up-tempo version of her standard ice-breaker, "I Love Being Here With You." She probably knew this used to be a signature opener for Seattle songstress Ernestine Anderson, so let's take it as a tribute.

Over the course of the evening, Krall performed two tunes accompanied only by Portlander Ben Wolfe's mellow, acoustic bass, not an easy thing for a singer to do. Perched on the piano bench, palms crossed on her lap, the picture of poise and confidence, she turned toward the audience and took "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You" from a pensive whisper to a pining lament. Nobody moved.

They weren't rustling around much during the breath-taking caresses of "I Miss You So," either, in which Krall acknowledged a hint of Patsy Cline.

Guitarist Russell Malone, who has one of those beautiful sounds in which you can hear the dry, acoustic "plink" of the strings, as well as the warm glow of their amplification, tore off several dazzling solos.

Krall's trio tossed musical puns around all night, including a nod toward Christmas on their amusing closer, "Frim Fram Sauce," as Malone pitched a quote from "Winter Wonderland," followed by Krall's "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."

But this was a set of some serious music-making, as well as amiable goofing. Diana Krall has something so direct to say, a way of saying it that is so vital, that it's going to be a pleasure to watch her grow and grow.

-- The Davis/Taylor Project is one of the most attractive young jazz groups in town. The two front men - Rob Davis on tenor saxophone and Mark Taylor, alto - have been a part of just about every large local project of importance. With John Hansen (piano), Geoff Harper (bass) and Jon Wikan (drums), the quintet performs original tunes with a hip rhythmic feel that skirts the hard-bop trap so many groups have fallen into. You can catch them at 9 p.m. tomorrow at Tula's.

-- As if to prove my point, composer David Marriot is using the entire Davis/Taylor band - plus himself on trombone and brother Tom, on trumpet - for the debut of a new septet at 8 p.m. Monday at Jazz Alley. The group performs Dave's first extended composition, "Genesis."

-- Bassist Michael Bisio and reed man Joe McPhee, whose album "Finger Wigglers" was certainly one of the year's Top 10 releases, pair up for a local reunion, at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Velvet Elvis Arts Lounge.

-- Andy Summers, best known as the guitarist with the Police, has ventured into heavy-beat jazz/rock with his new project, "The Last Dance of Mr. X" (RCA). Summers brings that sound to the Crocodile Cafe on Wednesday; Skerik, Mike Stone and Elizabeth Walker open.

Paul de Barros is a free-lance writer. His Jazz Inside Out column appears every other week in Ticket.