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Diana Krall has had a long time fascination with bossa nova, a type of music which perfectly suits her sophisticated yet sensual style. This culminated in her new studio album "Quiet Nights" (released by Verve in spring 2009) and in this stunning concert filmed in the home of the bossa nova, Rio de Janeiro, in November 2008. Accompanied by her band and an orchestra, Diana Krall delivers a superb set of standards in true bossa nova style but clearly bearing her unique stamp. This DVD captures Diana Krall at her scintillating best.
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By John N. Ayres (Jermyn PA USA)
The performance is pure marvelous. Oddly the DVD is selective on what machines it will play. Some yield picture but no sound.
By Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States)
Urgency, drama, poignancy--all of which I hear in the Sinatra/Jobim bossa nova recordings (two albums plus a television special)--are replaced in this set by color, casualness, even a touch of "home-iness" (several singalongs). Of course, the latter are all illusions, as Krall is one of the best prepared, most tightly rehearsed, perfectionist artists in the business. Her piano chops are fine-honed to to the point of virtual flawlessness, if at the expense of some excitement and spontaneity. She'll never be a "stand-up vocalist," but she has worked hard enough on that facet of her talent to be one of the more compelling (though hardly virtuosic) voices in the music today. Perhaps Diana herself wishes to be taken less seriously as a vocalist than as a pianist--how else to explain her crossing her legs while singing a couple of the numbers?
Perhaps her most noteworthy achievement on this date is to make it all seem so relaxed, so easy, so natural (the "just-got-up," careless fall of the hair, the sleepy eyes, the intimate rapport with the audience--all this on a concert stage while surrounded by a hundred musicians or so--it's the mark of a supreme actress who knows how to play equally to the camera and the crowd but also the signature of a performer sufficiently talented to exude this much confidence.
By contrast, her steadfast team of Hamilton and Clayton look, if anything, somewhat nonplussed alongside Diana (though Clayton does his best to provide an ingratiating smile). Perhaps what I'm seeing is what happens to all of us after age 50 (I can recall few drummers who projected a more commanding presence than Jeff Hamilton driving the Woody Herman Herd). No doubt Buddy Rich and Ray Brown were the exceptions--both seemed to register increasing confidence and unflappable supremacy with each passing year.
Guitarist Anthony Wilson, as the only other melodic voice of note, is especially key to the "jazz" interest of the group, though his rapidly ascending patterns occasionally get lost in the translation. Hand-drummer, Paulhino Da Costa, is gracefully balletic to look at, though his sonic contributions, at least on my system, are often hard to pick up. The orchestrations are worlds apart from a Nelson Riddle or Johnny Mandell but at least manage to avoid sounding intrusive or schmaltzy.
The only "life" in the proceedings occurs with the introduction of the Nat Cole Trio numbers. A couple of misfires, at least to my ears' perception, are "Too Marvelous for Words" (Johnny Mercer certainly had nothing in mind like this soporific version, which is tantamount to replacing love-struck wonder and speechlessness with a sentiment more like "words require too much effort to express your attractiveness") and "Walk On By" (which, with its repetitious and constricted melody combined with a deadpan delivery, sounds stolid--even a bit like martial music--"March on By"?).
Nonetheless, this is undeniably highly listenable, pleasant music. More questionable is whether it's worth the expense of time, attention, and cost of a Blu-ray edition. Despite the lovely interspersed shots of Brazilian life, there's not much to look at--unless you can't get your fill of Ms. Krall's admittedly handsome features. Moreover, the hi-definition is, at best, inconsistent. As mentioned, the audio is less than stellar, and the available light shots of the audience in the dark auditorium are mostly all grain (visual "noise" photographers call it). The cutting (from shot to shot) ranges from curious to disorienting (at a couple of points making the featured performer look like she's doing a ventriloquist act when the words suddenly show no synchronization with lip movement). Better to pick up the CD and let your mindscreen provide the pictures. (Tip: Don't overlook the "bonus" tracks shot in a hotel lounge with just vocal, guitar, and Hamilton playing brushes on his lap--in many respects, it's more satisfying than the big show.)
By Carlos from Rio (Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil)
Good to know there is new music show material in the Blu-Ray format but you won't get so much satisfaction when you discover that two different kinds of equipment were used to record image in this 'Live in Rio'.
Obviously the images that show the audience are very poor what makes us think that special equipment for Blu-Ray was used only for Ms.Krall on stage. What kind of economy was aimed at? This causes a big discomfort to watchers. Maybe this bad effect does not show in DVD format.
Images taken from Rio de Janeiro were also top quality. Rio de Janeiro is a beautiful city and the disc should offer an extra image bonuses considering the Blu-Ray product. I am Carlos from Rio and I mean what I say. The few takes of the City of Rio de Janeiro and the poor image variety give us the impression that the gasoline budget was tight.
The rest is Ms. Krall as usual: a mid-Jazz pianist as a promise, who decided to be a mainstream singer of standards which have been covered extensively and well by so many great artists.
Although the show was live in Rio, the Bossa Nova home town, Ms. Krall's and her trio's best peformance was their 4x4 rendition of Irving Berlin's 'Cheek to Cheek'. The repertoire follows the track of her recent sleepy Bossa Nova album. Most of the time the show is sleepy too.
Oh I can't forget to tell you that Ms. Krall is a beautiful woman. This should be remarked, considering the product is a Blu-Ray disc.
By Michael Cioffi
Whats not wonderful about anything Diana Krall does. This video was absolutely fabulous. For a Krall fan this one is an ABSOLUTE MUST.
By Happy's Mom (Tennessee)
I find her performances on video to be more interesting than the CDs. She is very pleasant in her spoken personal comments and to watch. Her accent, which I assume is Canadian, adds to the performance. Her comments regarding her family and the likelihood that will be with her in Brazil when she next appears there were touching. I enjoyed this as did my visitors.
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