Diana Krall returns to Montreal in hypnotic trio performance
The pianist and singer commanded two sold-out nights at Wilfrid-Pelletier, improvising freely across jazz classics in her most experimental approach yet.
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Diana Krall arrived at Montreal's Festival International de Jazz de Montréal Friday night with a trio—bassist Dennis Crouch and drummer Jay Bellerose—and delivered a performance that felt less like a concert than a masterclass in musical freedom.
The pianist from Nanaimo, British Columbia, took the stage at a packed Wilfrid-Pelletier and immediately signalled her intent: she wasn't bound by setlists. "I'm aging, we have a lot of songs, so we decide according to your energy," she told the crowd, shuffling through her papers between songs. The audience responded by shouting requests, leading to one of the night's most joyful moments as Krall shifted gears mid-set.
Her voice carried a gravelly, sometimes extinguished quality—a far cry from the polish that defined her earlier work. "The Look of Love," perhaps her most recognizable song, underwent a complete transformation: hypnotic, exploratory, almost unrecognizable. Yet it was this exact willingness to dismantle her own standards that made the night riveting.
Krall and her collaborators exchanged looks and musical relays across nearly every piece, moving fluidly between piano and voice. The trio—which recorded the more experimental 2012 album Glad Rag Doll with T Bone Burnett—brought that same exploratory touch to every number, layering dissonance alongside the expected doux and swing.
She hasn't released an album in six years, yet Montreal embraced her as a major festival draw. The city has always been her home away from home; Friday's sold-out show proved the affection runs both ways.