Diana Krall

I could offer some comments in rebuttal and further explanation, but I wouldn’t want to cause anxiety, anger and depression; sincerely. What I find intriguing is why discussion of this subject and expression of different points of view is felt to be “humanity being ugly”.  Why the hypersensitivity to disagreement?

Of course there are standards of excellence in the arts and this comment is not about DK.  Why should the arts be any different than any other endeavor in that regard.  Is the relatively casual observer/fan of figure skating just as qualified to discern the level of excellence (or lack of) in a skater as someone who has devoted a lifetime to studying the sport or is a skater himself?  I don’t think so.  Relativism in order to justify personal taste (subjectivity) is a sure way to stop learning and growing as a listener; and there is so much to learn.  

Shirley Horne was an extraordinary artist.  Anyone who doesn’t know her work and likes romantic ballads should check out “Here’s To Life” with orchestrations by the great Johnny Mandel.  An exquisite recording artistically and sonics wise.

I don’t know anyone here well enough to be singling anyone out; I am not.  This is just a general observation that I started to make in an earlier post and decided it was best to not go there; it certainly doesn’t apply in all cases.  Imo, some audiophile/music lovers do not do a good enough job of separating the “ear-candy” appeal of some recordings from its intrinsic musical value when making an assessment of the recording’s or the artist’s musical merit.  DK’s recordings are generally very well recorded and in a way that appeals to the audiophile’s sensibilities.  Conversely, some artists whose recordings are generally not as “impressive” in the sonics department are sometimes bumped down a notch or two (or more) in spite of being on a considerably higher level of musicality.  

Enjoy!  Have a great time and please report back.

Man, some of you guys have thin skins!  I didn’t think that responses to a post about an artist or a concert experience needed to be limited to posts expressing agreement, but used as an opportunity to discuss and offer reasons for why there is agreement or disagreement.  And if one or two posters are less than generous with their comments, so what?  I haven’t seen anything particularly “ugly” written about any artist so far.  How about everyone be a little more secure with their preferences and opinions.  Personally, I don’t particularly like Krall for many of the reasons already stated.  For a jazz singer her delivery sounds to me as stylistically forced and way too deliberate; planned.  I envision a singer who practices her delivery (interpretation) over and over down to the last little “nuance” and detail with the end result being that there is little sense of the spontaneity and looseness that great jazz singing demands.  Pleasant enough and I agree that the stuff that is more pop is more effective, but I think the point is that like others I prefer to listen to singers like London and Horne.