After cancelling her appearance at the Seneca Niagara Casino last fall, Diana Krall finally made her way back to the WNY area. Krall played the UB Center for the Arts almost exactly 2 years ago, and now she is back around in support of a compilation album titled “Wallflower.”
The jazz pianist appeared promptly at the 7:30pm show time. She was accompanied by Anthony Wilson on guitar, Karreim Riggins on drums, Dennis Crouch on bass, Patrick Warren on keyboards and “Mr. Everything” Stuart Duncan on fiddle, guitar, ukulele, bass, etc.
Krall spent the night behind her Steinway piano and a keyboard which she occasionally used to her left. There were real candles melting on stage, as well as, radio boxes from the early 19th century positioned on both sides of the stage. The backdrop also doubled as a projector that depicted old black and white video clips that looped differently to various songs. Krall basically let the music do the talking, yet she occasionally let her small talk lead into a few jokes. One was, “I just wanted to be a jazz pianist for a silent film, so in my city I tried to be, and I bet you’re believing every word I say right now.” This was met with a hearty chuckle from the audience.
Krall has a unique baritone to her voice, which makes her performances interesting and appealing. Her take on such covers as The Mamas and Papas “California Dreamin” or the Tom Waits classic “Temptation” were made to sound entirely her own. Some other highlights of the show included “On the Sunny Side Of The Street,” and the opener, “We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye.” Krall also talked about how her set consisted of love songs and various seasonal related tunes as well. She then boasted about how she wrote a song about Niagara Falls called “You Know I Know Ev’rything’s Made for Love.” As the song was performed, she gleefully stated, “We have the best ukulele player to help us,” and Duncan then took spotlight, as he did throughout the set.
Overall it was a dynamic, intimate performance that I think the audience thoroughly enjoyed.
Setlist:
We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye
There Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth the Salt of My Tears (Bing Crosby cover)
Sweet Man
Sunny Side Of The Street
Just Like A Butterfly
You Know I Know Ev’rything’s Made for Love
Temptation (Tom Waits cover)
Solo Section
Let’s Face The Music And Dance (Fred Astaire cover)
Frim Fram Sauce
A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell cover)
Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter (Fats Waller cover)
California Dreamin’ (Mamas and Papas cover)
Operator (Jim Croce cover)
If I Take You Home Tonight (Paul McCartney cover)
Just You, Just Me
Deed I Do
Wallflower (Bob Dylan cover)
A Little Mixed Up
Encores:
I’m Not In Love
Ophelia
Desperado (The Eagles cover)
We would like to thank David Wedekindt from UB for helping with the credentials to review the show.
