Anyone lucky enough to hear Diana Krall's trio over the weekend heard a class act - a tightly-organised trio, led by a good singer and fine pianist, with an excellent bassist in Paul Keller and a truly gifted guitarist in Russell Malone. The fare was standards, many of them written, in all probability, before any of the trio was born, but there was no sense of delving into the entrails of the past to parade their musical DNA as a curiosity. This was vibrant, living music, cogently put together and, because it was delivered with a very savoury melodic grace, always highly accessible. And, not incidentally, played with tremendous swing.
As a singer, Krall has a smoky, lived-in voice with a particularly expressive, full lower register. Her pitching is wonderfully controlled, often coloured by hitting the note slightly off-centre and then almost imperceptibly sliding on to it, while her phrasing instinctively reassesses the material as a jazz vehicle. And these gifts are always put at the service of the lyrics; there are no vocal pyrotechnics. This is an intimate art, often full of a wry sense of humour. Not Necessarily, although a highlight of the first set, which contained enjoyable versions of All Or Nothing At All, Gee, Baby Ain't I Good To You and You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me, was a beautiful, yearning interpretation - supported only by guitar - of If I Had You.
These were merely appetisers for a marvellous second set, during which the singing and the trio's playing reached fresh heights. On Only Trust Your Heart, the vocal was poignantly intimate, the mood magnificently sustained by the guitar, while another duet with Malone (whose unaccompanied introduction made use of the theme from An Affair To Remember) was an unforgettable PS, I Love You. The quality included East Of The Sun and How Deep Is the Ocean, two seldom-performed, superior songs whose swinging performance owed much to the cohesion of bass and, especially, guitar - besides being an outstanding soloist, Malone is also a brilliant rhythm guitarist, not least because he usually does it with downward strokes to get the necessary evenness.
Leaving the capacity attendance demanding more, Krall finished with a definitive blues, Route 66, and a delightful Peel Me A Grape; the witty, sardonic vocals were echoed by her piano, whose quirky astringency owed something to her former mentor, Jimmy Rowles, gracefully acknowledged.