Kall: My favourite book of all time is The Hobbit. In sixth grade, our teacher read it aloud and I felt something opening up when I heard it. For Christmas, my husband gave me a first edition, from 1937. It’s red, with a dragon on the cover. Such a thoughtful gift.
TOLKIEN, J. R. R. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., (1937). Octavo, original light green cloth with dark blue decorations, original blue, green, white, and black pictorial dust jacket. Housed in a custom full morocco clamshell box.
Oh man, that's funny! The big question is whether EC was the duper or dupee in this affair. Hey DK, you'd better check to be sure your wedding ring isn't cubic zirconia!
I had wondered if Ms Krall was perhaps referring to the cover, rather than the dustjacket (as if Elvis couldn't afford the dustjacket) but no, the UK 1st edition cover is green, although the dragon is red.
The Krall interview extracted above is only partiallly available at the above link. Scielle on the Krall forum has , thoughtfully , saved us from the indignity of having to buy Readers Digest by posting the remainder. Elvis gets some mentions so it's worth a read -
RD: What would you rather do, a radio interview or a print interview?
Krall: Radio, every time. I grew up with it. My mother loved Garrison Keillor. I got to be on his show and, oh, my God, that was a big deal. Radio is really the only media I love to do.
RD: Why?
Krall: It’s harder in print to convey pauses, or laughter, or when you’re tongue-in-cheek. And those fearful descriptions – “She arrived looking tired, with bags under her eyes.”
RD: For the record, you’re looking like a million bucks.
Krall: Thanks. As Joni Mitchell said, “Happiness is the best facelift.”
RD: Who designed your dress?
Krall: Diane von Furstenberg. These wraparound dresses just do the right thing for a woman’s body. I’d had in mind to wear this gorgeous ‘30s frock I found online. I’m getting more and more interested in wearing vintage clothing. I have a lot of 1940s dresses, shoes as well. They seem to suit me.
RD: Old clothes, old songs…
Krall: And old movies with strong women. Lauren Bacall, Claudette Colbert. Bette Davis is one of my heroes. I must know All About Eve by heart.
RD: Was turning 40 a challenge or a joy?
Krall: Mixed. For the most part, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. It’s been quite recent, happiness. When my mom passed away, I was numb. I don’t know how I functioned. You just do. And I will always miss my mother. But something happened when we made this Christmas record. It brought the light back in.
RD: This is Christmas Songs, your new CD with The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. The arrangements are snazzy and the repertoire is short on surprises. “Jingle Belle,” “White Christmas,” “Let it Snow” and so on.
Krall: I wanted something pure, something that came naturally. I love Christmas. Not New Year’s; I’ve played too many parties. Christmas was gathering in church. It was the carol-sing at home. We’d promise ourselves we’d stick to the carols, but then we’d be veering off into Fats Waller with Nana. My mom used to laugh at me for that.
To sing these songs again was completely joyful. I did it with people that I love, and we had a riot recording it. I think the record worked out great, which is unusual for me to say. When I told a friend, she said, “Can I hang up and call again? Is this Diana Krall speaking?” Typically I’d have been saying, “I could have done this, I could have done that.” It was strange to be recording it in summer. One night around that time I woke at 3 a.m. in a London hotel room worrying the key in “Sleigh Ride” was too high. I started singing it, and all I could think was, There’s someone next door thinking they’re having a nightmare of Diana Krall singing “Sleigh Ride.” Then Elvis and I got up, and we were laughing, and I was playing the white upright piano-it was crazy.
RD: Weren’t you recently on the same bill as Simon and Garfunkel?
Krall: Yes. We did two benefits in New York for hurricane relief. Some of the musicians were from New Orleans, and they’d lost their homes. It was so inspiring, yet heartbreaking. Wynton Marsalis, a hero of mine, was at the Lincoln Centre. And at Madison Square Garden, Bette Midler was there and yes, Simon and Garfunkel. The point is, it’s amazing what we can do as musicians when we come together.
RD: Still, aren’t you impressed by the company you find yourself in?
Krall: Oh, I’m in awe. It’s overwhelming. We went to see Tom Waits rehearse. I’ve been listening to him since I was a girl. Afterwards, we went out for dinner and I just kept quiet. I think it was Conan O’Brien who talked about how you’re geared up to meet people you admire, and you end up talking about, I don’t know, the Band-Aid on your toe or how you like cheese.
RD: You sang for Oscar Peterson’s 80th birthday in August.
Krall: And then we went to his home, which was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I was remembering how my mom made me a jacket to go to the Orpheum when he played there with Ella Fitzgerald. And now he was saying, “You go play the piano, Diana,” and I was like, No! I’ve forgotten how! Those great things you never think will happen to you-sometimes, they do. When I talk to children, I say don’t be afraid to dream big.
RD: What about children? Any plans?
Krall: Let’s see what happens.
RD: I have to ask about your husband.
Krall: You know, I’ve been through relationships that weren’t happy. With my husband, it’s always interesting and fun. We look at each other and say, Don’t we have such a good time? Elvis is an extraordinary man. It was a gift, totally unexpected. He came to me at the right time.
RD: When you do get an evening alone together, what music do you put on?
Krall: We have such eclectic tastes. So it’s always interesting to play dueling iPods. We might listen to Muddy Waters, Willie Nelson, Nat King Cole, Charlie Parker, something from the ‘30s, something from Shanghai. It’s just part of our breath.
RD: Okay, let’s say you’re in New York together having a day out like in Breakfast at Tiffany’s…
Krall: Well, we went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently and had a fantastic time. We had lunch and walked all the way downtown-I’m embarrassed talking about this. We go to movies, we stay out late with friends and talk about everything till three in the morning. We do what everybody else does, and then we have the extraordinary, like we play at Madison Square Garden together. You know, “Have a nice day, honey. I am going onstage, give me a kiss.”
RD: How much time are you able to spend together?
Krall: Five weeks has been the longest. I set my cellphone’s ringtone to my husband’s song, “Monkey to Man,” so I can truly hear him calling me.
RD: How did you feel when you learned you’ll be receiving the Order of Canada?
Krall: It’s an incredible honour. It probably won’t hit me until the ceremony; it’s a bit unreal for now.
RD: At your place on Vancouver Island, what do you see from your window?
Krall: Nature. Rabbits, harbour seals, eagles in the trees, ocean. Elvis and I find it a great place to write. I’ve never seen a place to match the beauty of the West Coast of Canada.
RD: Do you still see old friends?
Krall: Coming home is very grounding for me. I spend time with the people I love, family, friends, just talking and laughing. We always pick up the conversation exactly where we left it off.
RD: You allude to your home turf in one song you and Elvis wrote, “Departure Bay.” You sing about skimming stones on the water as a child. So what makes a good skimming stone?
Krall: It has to be flat. Did you do it?
RD: Sure. On Lake Winnipeg. You’d count the skips, for luck. You’ve got where you are because of talent and hard work. Does luck figure?
Krall: Definitely. Luck, or destiny. But you also get to a place beyond your wildest imagination by loving something so much. When I first heard Oscar Peterson’s album Night Train, when I first started listening to Ernestine Anderson, Monty Alexander’s trio-I wanted to sing like Ernestine and play like Monty. It was lucky I met Jeff Hamilton at a jazz workshop in Port Townsend, Wash., and that a few weeks later he came to Nanaimo with Ray Brown. And when I saw When Harry Met Sally, which Harry Connick Jr. played in, I thought, There’s someone about my age playing music I love; maybe there’s a chance for me, too.
RD: I think most of us assume that, after awhile, you don’t have to practice piano.
Krall: But you do. Hours and hours. I’ve considered using another piano players, because I just don’t have the skills of a lot of the great jazz pianists. I don’t have a big vocal range either. But I feel what I do deeply, and I have been practicing more, so maybe there’s hope.
RD: The Girl in the Other Room includes some original songs. Will you compose more originals?
Krall: It’s exciting embarking on a new journey. As to future projects, I don’t want to put myself in a box. You do something spontaneously, you go down different roads. Any album is a snapshot of where you were at the time. Ideally, you make the most beautiful, honest record you can in the moment, then move on to the next place.
RD: You’re shy, inward-looking. Is performing an act of courage for you?
Krall: In used to be terribly nervous, but now I look at things with a sense of joy. I’m still nervous about tripping on words-and literally tripping. Before going onstage, I visualize tripping, and hopefully that kills the possibility of actually doing it.
RD: You went to church as a kid?
Krall: Pretty much every Sunday. We were a churchgoing family. My faith now is based on what I learned as a girl. I’ve come to a clear idea of how I feel about our purpose here, about what’s after, and what comes before. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching in the three years since my mother died.
RD: You were able to be with her when she passed. How lucky, for you both.
Krall: Yes. I can’t say I’ve figured it out, except that the more I meditate, the stronger I become. And music, for me, is one of the purest connections.
RD: Perhaps performing connects spirituality with a sense of fun.
Krall: Well, I guess it’s called playing for a reason.
RD: Last question. If you were watching your very eventful life as a video, what one moment would you freeze-frame, just to marvel at it?
Krall: This is corny, but who cares: I played at the Hollywood Bowl as a student in L.A. I was about 20 and playing piano with an all-girl band. It was evening, and still light out. The national anthem started so everyone stood up, and I looked out into the audience and saw my mom and dad looking at me, tears running down their faces. I can still picture it. They were so happy and proud of their kid. I looked at them and thought how lucky I was to see two people who loved life and each other so much. It always inspired me in every area of my life.
