"Her timing was exquisite, her phrasing Lesterian. The audience, many of whom knew who Lester Young was, nestled into her pocket. But mama really started coming back home on the up-tempo numbers like "From This Moment On" or "Devil May Care," where she joined the unsurpassed Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra for a romp along the race course. It felt like a place in her heart opened up when she took her rightful spot as one of the boys in the band. She burned them right down the middle like a tickler from a New Orleans whorehouse, showing no hint of fear of the bad cats up there like trumpet player Bijon Watson, trombonist George Bohanon and saxophonists Charles Owens and Ricky Woodard.She got into some locked hands stuff that took you back to the days of Milt Buckner, and in between, she dropped into the pianissimo sector for some Teddy Wilson licks. Every once in a while, guitarist Anthony Wilson threw in some commanding solo passages, sometimes very pretty, sometimes very pretty and quite hot. He delighted Krall and vice versa on the quartet pieces, where bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Clayton joined them to enlarge the sound and the understanding.
Gone is the glamour girl Diana with her long eyelashes and her sultry come-on. Tonight she was up there in her jeans and stilettos and a designer silk smock, squaring off like Holly Hunter on "Saving Grace," with an occasional curl of the lip that said stone street. - complete review
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