Over the last ten years, Diana Krall has tended to alternate between jazz-light and more adventurous recordings. Her first album of original songs, the Girl In The Other Room (2004) was followed by Christmas Songs (2005) – a return to straight ahead jazz, but every bit as commercial as the title suggests. More recently, her bossa nova album, Quiet Nights (2009), which saw her reunited with arranger Claus Ogerman, was followed by the more interesting pairing with T-Bone Burnett for Glad Rag Doll (2012), on which she explored old vaudeville tunes that her father used to enjoy.
Sadly, Wallflower is a return to jazz-light. In fact, I hesitate to even use the term jazz; easy listening would be a more accurate description, the arrangements reminiscent of early 1970s Burt Bacharach and Richard Carpenter.
In some respects, the album might be considered a follow-up to Glad Rag Doll, this time focused on songs she remembers from her childhood years. Unfortunately, most of the songs are too familiar, and have been covered so many times already. Do we really need another version of Desperado, In My Life or California Dreamin’? And do we really need to be reminded of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s Alone Again (Naturally)?
Wallflower does have its moments. Krall’s skill as a singer has improved over the years, and her read of Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell’s Superstar is sublime, the vocal subtle yet yearning. 10cc’s I’m Not In Love works surprisingly well, despite its familiarity, given the simple, pared back arrangement. There are also occasional surprises; Bob Dylan’s Wallflower – from Volume Two of the Bootleg Series, is given a rare outing here, and there is also a previously unreleased Paul McCartney tune, If I Take You Home Tonight, which was an outtake from Kisses On The Bottom.
For the most part, however, this is the sound of an artist treading water. The freshness of her jazz trio recordings All For You (1996) and Love Scenes (1997), which saw her working with the likes of bass player Christian McBride and guitarist Russell Malone, seem to have been left behind, her skill as a pianist buried beneath over-bearing arrangements. I’m sure it will sell well, as far as jazz albums go – but then again, it’s not really jazz.
