The first offspring
of the Elvis Costello-Diana Krall marriage has recently arrived -
Krall“s CD _The Girl in the Other Room_ (Verve). Lovely jazz piano +
small combo, and that great voice grappling (successfully!) with
Elvis“ lyrics. In between their eight new songs (her music to his
lyrics), covers of Costello“s "Almost Blue", plus terrific
tunes by Joni Mitchell, Moses Allison and Tom Waits. Hardly
avant-anything, but classy. Moving, panoramic closer, "Departure
Bay", about her first Xmas home after her mother passed away.
Bound to bring a tear to the eye of the hardest cats out there
(everybody“s got a mom, everybody“s got a childhood
home...).
For another kind of
jazz, recommended reading: _Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of
the 1950s and 1960s_, by Gerald Nachman (New York, 2003).
--
Stephen Fruitman
Dept of Historical Studies
Umea University
SE-901 87 Umea Sweden