Recorded "live" at the Paris
Olympia
,
Live in Paris
offers listeners
Diana Krall
's understanding of the musical techniques of composition, piano, and vocal improvisation on 12 songs from the Great American Songbooks of
Cole Porter
Harold Arlen
George
and
Ira Gershwin
, and contemporary artists
Joni Mitchell
Billy Joel
. Accompanied by the award-winning
Anthony Wilson
on guitar,
John Pisano
on acoustic guitar,
John Clayton
on bass,
Jeff Hamilton
on drums, and
Paulinho Da Costa
on percussion as well as
the Orchestra Symphonies European
on
"Let's Fall in Love"
"I've Got You Under My Skin,"
the lovely vocalist heightens your listening pleasures with distinctive phrasings and tangible pathways to inside the creative imagination by getting inside harmony, the changes, and melodic structures. On
Joel
's
"Just the Way You Are,"
Krall
is accompanied by
Christian McBride
Michael Brecker
on tenor saxophone,
Lewis Nash
Wilson
on guitar, among others. This song also resides on the soundtrack to the film
The Guru
and is probably one of the best
ballads
on the set due to the great solo from
Brecker
. His powerful but sensitive playing adds the ultimate expression and approach to the melody -- one with attitudinal preparation, which is always necessary for a song that has such familiarity and association with another musician. For those who may not have heard
perform "live," this recording will give you a firsthand account of the ambience and excitement of a musical evening with her. ~ Paula Edelstein