With her sultry voice, flowing hair and stiletto heels, Diana Krall has given jazz a kick in the pants. Her hot-selling CD The Look of Love made its debut at No. 9 on Billboard's pop chart in October, almost unheard of for a slinky collection of ballads and bossa novas. Burt Bacharach, who cowrote the title track, explains why: "She's a wonderful singer and a hell of a piano player. And so much has to do with her belief in the lyrics." Krall, 37, attracts celebrity followers like the Pied Pianist. Elton John is a phone friend; Clint Eastwood sends flowers; actor Laurence Fishburne meets her for dinner on a regular basis. "You can feel the passion for every line she sings," he says, "for every phrase she turns." Her famous fans motivate Krall as well. "I've learned a lot from actors," she says. "I find the story and I visualize it." But her command of old favorites isn't the only reason the 2000 Grammy winner (for the platinum When I Look in Your Eyes) is jazz's fastest-selling artist. Made up like a model, marketed like Madonna, "I love to wear great clothes and dress sexy," she admits. "Wearing Dolce & Gabbana has nothing to do with the way I interpret Cole Porter." Point taken. Raised on Canada's Vancouver Island, she comes from an intensely musical family. "At Christmas," she recalls, "my grandmother would say, 'Okay, let's get the carols over with so we can sing jazz tunes.' " Today those songs are keeping Krall away from her Greenwich Village apartment and her boyfriend, screenwriter John-Paul Bernbach, 34. But she insists that her yearlong international tour is worth the drawbacks. "Standards are good," she says. "Miles Davis played them and Billie Holiday sang them. They're great songs that tell numerous stories."
Your Reaction
