Concert review: Diana Krall deserved better as fans make early exit: Video, Photos

Some fans of jazz artist Diana Krall apparently don’t like jazz.

I’ve come to that conclusion based on years of hearing people grumble at her concerts about the long improvisational instrumental portions, a sentiment that has been underscored by the emails I’ve received from disappointed concert-goers who disagree with my typically positive assessment of Krall’s live performances.

In all of the above cases, they seem to want a stronger focus on the vocals, which is quite understandable given how great Krall is on the microphone. And they want her to sing in a more straightforward singer-songwriter/pop fashion, instead of using her voice as a jazz instrument.

Yet, that’s not who Krall is. She’s a jazz artist. And she puts on jazz shows — which certainly included the one she delivered on Friday night at the beautiful Mountain Winery in Saratoga.

During her concerts, vocals are just a part of the attraction. Jazz cats get this and appreciate the lengthy spotlights given to Krall’s bandmates — bassist John Clayton, drummer Jeff Hamilton and guitarist Anthony Wilson — all of whom are phenomenal players with so much to say on their instruments that is absolutely worth hearing.

Diana Krall is not Norah Jones or some other Starbucks-friendly crooner. But apparently not all concertgoers realized this before heading off to the show.

Instead, we witnessed hundreds of fans making very early exits during Krall’s Mountain Winery gig. It was so bad that the lower bowl, which was packed at the start of the show, was basically half-empty during the later stages of the vocalist-pianist’s roughly 100-minute performance.

Of course, the chilly weather certainly could have factored in. Yet, that’s nothing new for this venue — especially this early in its season — and most people seemed to be veteran Mountain Winery attendees who had dressed properly for the occasion. (The few apparent novices, however, were were miserable in their T-shirts and shorts.)

A few people leaving early at the Mountain Winery is normal, but in my decades of attending shows here I’ve never seen an exodus so dramatic and pronounced as what occurred on Friday.

Krall, who did not address the matter or make any visible reaction to it, deserved better. And, of course, she’ll get it once she cashes the sizable check for playing the show. So, we’ll save the tears.

But there was nothing in the performance that gave people an obvious reason to leave. Krall and company sounded great throughout the night as they once again mined the Great American Songbook in glorious ways.

The show got off to a strong start with the Lerner-and-Loewe show tune “Almost Like Being in Love,” which was written for the 1947 musical “Brigadoon” and was wonderfully sung in the 1954 film version by Gene Kelly. Here, Krall’s dreamy vocals mixed with Wilson’s robust guitar work for another standout version.

From there, this first-class quartet moved into “All or Nothing at All,” which many known from the smash Frank Sinatra version of 1939 but, for our money, found its greatest interpretation on the Billie Holiday album of the same name in 1958. Krall’s take, we should add, is also outstanding — and it’s all her own, with a vibe that doesn’t really mimic either the Sinatra or Holiday versions.

As the evening progressed, Krall continued to be a very generous bandleader, providing space for a luxurious run from bassist Clayton on “Let’s Fall in Love” (written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler for the 1933 film of the same name), and a rip-roaring guitar part by Wilson and a big drum showcase for Hamilton on a fast-paced “Devil May Care,” which was penned by Bob Dorough (who was known for, among other things, his work on “Schoolhouse Rock” educational TV song series).

Krall slowed things down for a low, sultry and impactful version of Russ Columbo’s signature romantic tune, “You Call It Madness, But I Call It Love,” which the vocalist-pianist — and millions of others — know from the Nat King Cole Trio recording. She stayed with the same vibe for Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” which — in yet of another sign of how many outstanding compositions came out of the ’30s and ”40s — lost the Academy Award for best original song to “The Way You Look Tonight” in 1936. (“Pennies From Heaven” was also nominated that same year.)

The troupe continued through winning versions of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (which, thankfully, was the 1933 standard rather than the Green Day tune) and “The Look of Love” (the Burt Bacharach composition, although I’d also would’ve loved to hear Krall cover the ABC number of the same name).

Yet, the crowd response, for the most part, didn’t match the band’s efforts. By the time Krall was driving into “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,” hundreds of fans were driving out of the parking lot. The mass exit happened right before the star’s eyes, which had to be, at the very least, distracting and probably quite disheartening as well.

Krall told the crowd early in the night that she has long held onto an setlist from a previous Mountain Winery show as a kind of a keepsake. The guess here is that she won’t recall Friday’s show remember quite so fondly.

By Jim Harrington