Queer Chronicles entry ©2004

Queer Chronicles by Kenneth Allen, ©2004

September 7, 2004

CD Review: Diana Krall, The Girl in the Other Room

Once more I say to the wind, “I don’t listen to the radio.” Though I own a few thousand CDs, I learn about my music by reading about it, from the advice of others who make the best of intentions … ahem, suggestions, and from reading the CD jackets. You can find the best new artists right in your very own collection by reading the entire cast list of your favorite CDs and looking those people up on the Internet. Alas, it’s how a musician blends with others and what they do for other musicians that make them great. Which brings us tripping gaily into the jazz realm.

For years, hot and sexy blonde bombshell Diana Krall has melted every geek-nasty music critic into thinking that since her jazz is so pure and her artistry so beguiling, that they, as connoisseurs, would have some sorta chance. Then, the rumor hits that Diana’s a lesbian. More albums of standards came out of her in more brilliant renditions. Those self-involved jazz aficionados (who forget that it’s freedom that makes great jazz) were secretly titillated by the lesbo rumors. For straights, two chicks together! Hot, right? Or so I’m told. I try not to think about it. Ah, but then one day, Diana looked at her bazillion awards and her catalogs of acclaim and said, “hey, where’s love?” and she found a super-geeky musician named Elvis Costello.

Blend, musicians. Blend. And so they did. First, you saw them playing together in guest spots here and there and for the first time, you saw Diana happy. And Elvis was happy, too. Who’da thunk? And damn, could they make music. Then, as fate would have it, Elvis & Diana begat a child: The Girl in the Other Room. Oh it’s Diana’s album and all, but Elvis is there in spirit when he’s not already doing something else.

All that’s the back-story. So! Critics have buried it in their bitter you-shoulda-stayed-a-faux-lesbian muck, proclaimed it’s incongruities, it’s oddness, and God knows what else. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from critics it’s that you have to read every word carefully. Again, I saw that though they didn’t like it, the way they were describing it and the comparisons made got me to realize this is probably pretty good.

Finally, I got to try it out. Sat and listened to the whole thing. And you know what? Gee, I’m real so sorry those clammy critics will never leave their headphones long enough to get a chance with Diana, and besides, she went off and married someone uglier than them and way more talented. They should lay off. It’s good stuff. It ain’t jazz but it’s a damn good record.

I’ve heard the standards. Yes, Diana has a way all her own. But enough sultry jazz standards done to perfection with her amazing piano hands. She’s more than a tape recorder. She’s young. Let the girl try to make some new music and for crying out loud, listen to the album a few more times and you might like it. It’s okay to flip-flop. All jazz critics are Democrats, aren’t they?