Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 111

CO CO T3 TO hi- CQ mm 6 -4 I -Sir' ''it' i( Diana Krall grew up on Vancouver Island in British Columbia in a household where her dad played piano and her mom sang in a community choir. It was there that Diana fell under the spell of Nat King Cole, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson and Earl "Fatha" Hines. "There was always sheet music on the piano and old 78s in the house," she told me. Diana was studying piano by age 4 and playing jazz in a local restaurant at 15. She earned a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, then moved on to LA.

to hang i with the jazz heavyweights. Krall eventually returned to marrow transplant program. There's a very personal reason for Diana's dedication to the hospital: She believes that her mother, Adella, enjoyed six years of life following her diagnosis of multiple myeloma (a bone-marrow cancer) because of their care and treatment. "The event was about celebrating life and love," Diana told me. "We raised 5800,000.

We want other families to experience the same with their loved ones." What are KralFs plans now that the album is done? "After I talk with you, I'll go to the gym," she said. "Then Fll be going to Japan to promote the album, then Australia and Europe. In May, I'll go back on tour starting in Canada, then America." One last question: What was it like getting married at Elton John's place? She laughed. "What can I say? Fabulous." And how does Diana sign off in that glorious voice? "Goodbye and thanks," she said. "I've gotta go run on the treadmill." 11 i AZZ SINGERPIANIST AND I newlywed Diana Krall was phon-i ing from California on a sunny day.

When I told her it was cold and damp on Long Island, she ftaafc said: "Oh, good. Fm quite a fan of gloomy weather." And plenty of us are fans of the gorgeous Ms. Krall, the Grammy-winner whose latest album The Girl in the Other Room, the first to feature her own compositions will be in stores Tuesday. Some of the songs are co-written by her husband, the admirably cool Elvis Costello, whom Krall met at the 2002 Grammys, then married in December on their pal Elton John's estate in England. Hadn't she ever composed songs before? "I've written instrumentals," Diana said, "but never anything like this.

And I've never before collaborated with Elvis Costello. So this really is a debut." It's also something of a risk, this mating of jazz musician and pop rocker. I asked her to describe the spirit of the album. "Think film noir," she said, "with a sultry blonde strolling across the screen as Sydney Greenstreet watches, as if in The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon." I wondered if Diana herself might not play that sultry blonde. Had she ever thought of an acting career? "Where would I find the time?" she asked.

"But, yes, if they asked me, I'd certainly have an interest. I love old movies." (Actu- Beautifui, Grammy-winning Diana Krall releases a new album this week on which she collaborates with her new husband the great Elvis Costello. ally, she and Costello will have bit parts in a film due out this summer called De-lovely, starring Kevin Kline as Cole Porter.) Even more than her new album, what Diana really wanted to talk about was the benefit concert she, Costello and Elton John did for Vancouver General Hospital's bone- Canada (this time to Toronto), where she released her first album in 1993. Interviewing Diana while her new album played behind me for a damp, gloomy day," she reassured me), I was stunned to to learn that she didn't start singing until she was 26. "I didn't have the confidence," Krall said.

'Too much listening to Sarah Vaughan, I guess." For more on Diana Krall, visit www.parade.com and click on "In Step With." PAGE 22 APRIL 25, 2004 PARADE PHOTO BY LARSEN TALBERT FOR PARADE; HAIR AND MAKEUP BY VOULA AMPAS FOR ARTISTGROUPUMITED.COM; STYLING BY YVETTE ROMANO.