Customer Reviews

KRALL DIANA STEPPING OUT

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great CD: vintage Diana Krall before the marketing folks at GRP Records got ahold of her career. Unlike her three most recent albums of "easy listening" music, which see her talents as a jazz singer and pianist well hidden, this album swings! Unlike the overly-breathy sultriness of recent efforts, her singing style here is strong and effortless, reminiscent of Shirley Horn or Rosemary Clooney. Her playing, even at this early stage of her career, is melodic and complementary to her vocal phrasing. I owned the original release when it came out in '93, and just bought this remastered edition, which is well worth it. The sound quality was already just fine, but this new version is better yet, with increased detail and soundstage. Best of all, there is a bonus track, which was omitted from the original release, and is a real treat for a longtime Diana fan. After the disappointing schmaltz of Love Scenes and The Look of Love, it was exhilarating to hear a new track of Ms. Krall singing and swinging again!!

Very listenable. This is my favorite album of Ms. Krall's. If you like small groups, standards and stuff with a little swing, this is the disc for you. This CD is very straightforward but has some nifty little surprises. I can hear the influence of Mary Stallings (!) and (I know you won't believe this) a tiny touch of Ahmad Jamal (!!!). She even recorded a version of the Harold Arlen tune "As Long As I Live." It seems like nobody ever records or even knows about that great little song. There is something here for a casual listener and a total jazz snob like me. A deal at twice the price.

Although this was Diana's first release (in Canada) it wasn't released in the states until she had a few other releases to her credit. This wasn't the first disc of Diana's that I purchased but when it was released I wanted to hear her early works, and in my opinion it is very pleasing. She paid tribute to Nat King Cole on this disc with "Straighten Up And Fly Right" and also "Frim Fram Sauce" which she also recorded again for the "All For You" disc which was a tribute to Nat King Cole. My favorites besides the ones I previously mentioned are, "This Can't Be Love", "I'm Just A Lucky So And So", "Body And Soul", and "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me". I suggest picking up this disc if you want to see the direction Diana was heading for and mastered when she got there.

There isn't anything I don't like about Diana Krall and her music. She is the most refreshing and the nicest thing to look and listen to in a whole lot of years, an entire generation, even. I loved her from the moment I heard her first piece........"Peel me a Grape" on Calif. Bay Area Radio Station KKSF---103.4. Just a few years ago. The rest just gets better and better, can't go through the day without listening to her! Steppin Out displays her enormous piano skills----SHE IS JUST SO GOOD! It's hard to focus on just one album. Stepping Out takes you through the moods and completes the feelings that the soul of Jazz demands of you. VERY NICE!

After viewing Diana Kral's outstanding DVD, "Live in Paris", I've grown to appreciate what an outstanding talent she is and how far she can still go, particularly when compared to her initial cd, "Stepping Out."

"Stepping Out" is Diana Krall's first album and in many ways is still one of her best, particularly because of its pure jazz sensibilities. Here, her vocals are not her strong suit. While clear, heartfelt and energetic, they are also often brash, harsh and annoying. But compare her here with her recent singing and you are impressed with how far she has come and what a fine singer she is today (she needs to focus more on her piano skills).

Along with John Clayton on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums (her idols and still a mainstay in her regular group) she has created a cd that reminds me a lot of early 1960's dates for labels like Roulette, Prestige and Blue Note. She is clearly trying to say "I'm a jazz musician first and foremost and I want you to listen to all of us swing."

And it works. She gets into a fine groove on "This Can't Be Love" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street", two of my favorites. There are also straight instrumental tracks, something she has not done since, such as "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea", "42nd Street" and "Big Foot" where Clayton and Hamilton get some room to stretch out. Diana's own style is a veritable who's who of modern jazz pianists including Monty Alexander, Ahmad Jamal and Bill Evans among others.

True Diana Krall fans will want this one. Those who are more inclined to her excellent, but more pop oriented "The Look of Love", may want to skip "Stepping Out."

If you're interested in undiluted Krall and not the Cosmo cover girl, this session is the ticket--her most swinging, inventive, spirited album. Whereas on her subsequent albums, she would keep to "contained" Nat Cole melodic lines and Bill Evans chord voicings, here she reflects some of the exhuberance of Oscar, the rhythmic space of Ahmad, the playfulness of Monk, the funkiness of Silver. Vocally, she covers a greater expressive range as well, though admittedly her tones are often harder, more forced and pinched, than on her later, more popular recordings. But don't be surprised if, 5 or 10 years from now, much of the Krall in evidence here resurfaces.

Diana Krall is currently the top female jazz vocalist-musician on the scene today. This album, her debute, proves why. I know of no one even non-jazz listeners who dislike her. Her arrangements matched with her smooth sexy, sultry voice are Jazz standards performed at their best. No strings in these arrangements to get in the way. Only piano, bass, drums & that voice. Buy this one and every other cd Diana has out. All her albums are pure Jazz perfection. I know of no venue of Jazz and no single performer who you can listen to over and over and over again without tiring than Diana Krall!!!

...I hadn't heard more than four bars before I created my own Diana Krall fan club and elected myself president. I could have easily rated this a five star recording. I only reserved the status based on a couple of numbers I wouldn't have chosen, personally, but everything on the disc is a work of exceptional artistry. If anyone has a weakness for hauntingly beautiful piano harmony accompaniment to a soul stirring vocal rendition, he or she won't want to miss "Body and Soul" on this album. I hesitate to say how many years I have heard this standard recorded, and by how many performers. I would have easily agreed that I would never hear the song with a whole new life breathed into it. It shows how unsafe it is to ever think that way about music. It is hard to believe the voice of this girl came in the same package with all that piano talent. This girl is proof that the creator can be very uneven-handed with his gifts. Since buying the Album I have learned a little of the history of Diana Krall. She comes from B.C. Canada and was a piano wiz kid that attracted some attention from high ranking people in the performing community. The next thing I want to know is, when does she perform in my neighborhood?

Gary S

Someone in the LA Times used the phrase "jazz-lite" to describe Krall after she won the Grammy. I guess if it's melodic and beautiful it can't be jazz-hevi -- even if it swings down to your big toe. Baloney! Diana is the best thing to hit jazz for a long time. And others feel that she is the wrong color to do real jazz. It don't make no difference. Oscar Petersen, another great Canadian, is Black and a guy. Krall is white and a gal. It don't make no difference. Louis Armstrong once told me there is only two kinds of music: good and bad. This "early" album shows that Diana has had it, that is the God-given genius to make good music, nearly from the beginning. Unless a bus hits her, she's gonna be around far longer than I will. Strangely,I like that thought. It warms me like a good Bonded bourbon, sort of lke Diana's soft, smokey voice warms me. BB

This is one of the early albums of Ms. Krall and sets the tone for all that is to come - the choice of tunes, the low-key but striking arrangements, the elegant piano, the mix between longing and bopping. But most of all it is about that fabulous voice that continues to enchant. It is not so clear as, say, Cheryl Bentyne, but its sultriness and throatiness are what we have come to look for and love.

Most of the songs have been heard before (and since) and yet they are worth repeating even from one CD to another. "Straighten Up and Fly Right" is understanded but undeniably affecting. "I'm just a Lucky So and So" seems sculptured just for her in both body and spirit. The other tunes were all gems...a winner.