Born in Nanaimo, British Columbia (not far from Vancouver), Krall grew up in the western part of Canada and began studying the piano when she was only four. Krall was raised on jazz, and by the time she was 15, she was performing standards in a local restaurant/bar. One person who did a lot to encourage her interest in jazz was her father, a stride pianist who had a vast knowledge of 1920s and 1930s pianists like Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, and Earl "Fatha" Hines. Krall recalls: "I think Dad had every recording Fats Waller ever made, and I tried to learn them all."
Krall was still a teenager when she was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. After two years in Boston, she moved to Los Angeles, where she met some jazz heavyweights, including John Clayton, pianist/singer Jimmy Rowles, and the late bassist Ray Brown (who gave her a great deal of encouragement and ended up playing on some of her 1990s albums). Krall had been in LA for three years when she moved to Toronto, and it was a Canadian label that gave the singer/pianist her first chance to record. In 1993, the Montreal-based Justin Time Records released Krall's debut album, Stepping Out. But Krall, who now lives in New York, didn't stay with Justin Time very long. In 1994, she signed with GRP and recorded Only Trust Your Heart, which boasted Ray Brown on bass and Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone and marked the beginning of her association with Tommy LiPuma (who has worked with everyone from Barbra Streisand to Natalie Cole to George Benson). After producing Only Trust Your Heart, LiPuma produced several more Krall albums for GRP, Impulse!, and Verve, including All for You: A Dedication to the Nat "King" Cole Trio in 1995, Love Scenes in 1997, When I Look In Your Eyes in 1998, and The Look of Love in 2001. LiPuma observes: "That was the first time I had produced that many albums in a row for any artist. Diana and I have such a good chemistry between us-it makes it easy. When one of us makes a suggestion, the other listens in earnest. We have tremendous respect for one another."
As the 1990s progressed, Krall grew increasingly popular. Only Trust Your Heart, All for You and Love Scenes were all respectable sellers, but the album that put Krall over the top commercially was When I Look in Your Eyes. In 1998 and 1999, the success that When I Look in Your Eyes enjoyed was astounding. In addition to spending 52 weeks in the #1 position on Billboard's jazz chart, the album won GRAMMYs? in two categories: Best Jazz Vocal Performance and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Plus, When I Look in Your Eyes received a GRAMMY? nomination in the Album of the Year category-a category that found her competing with the likes of Santana, the Backstreet Boys, the Dixie Chicks, and TLC. Needless to say, it isn't every day that an acoustic-oriented jazz improviser finds herself competing with major rock, country, urban, and teen-pop stars in a GRAMMY? category.
Nor is it every day that a jazz improviser becomes a major attraction at the Lilith Fair festival, which was founded by singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan and has tended to spotlight female pop-rock and pop artists. But in 1998, Krall had no problem winning over a young, predominantly female audience that was more likely to be into Sheryl Crow or Alanis Morissette than Abbey Lincoln or Chris Connor. When I Look in Your Eyes went platinum in the United States (where it sold over one million units), double platinum in Canada, platinum in Portugal, and gold in France. And in 2000, it won a Canadian Juno Award for Best Vocal Jazz Album. Although When I Look in Your Eyes was an extremely tough act to follow, Krall's next album, The Look of Love, has also been an impressive seller. When The Look of Love was released in September 2001, it entered the Billboard 200 at #9 and sold 95,000 copies in the U.S. alone its first week. In addition to going quadruple platinum in Canada and platinum in Australia, New Zealand, Poland, and Portugal, The Look of Love has gone gold in France, Singapore, and England. At Canada's Juno Awards, The Look of Love was a winner in three categories: Best Artist, Best Album, and Best Vocal Jazz Album.
--The Official Site
Diana Krall's music is often ...
Diana Krall
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