Diana Krall And Tony Bennett - Brief Article - Interview

Interview, August, 2000 by Vivien Goldman

FORGET'N SYNC AND BRITNEY. HERE'S THE SEASON'S STEAMIEST TOUR

The smoothest tour this season has to be the Tony Bennett and Diana Krall two-step, billed as "Two for the Road." The career spans of these elegant vocal stylists differ by some three decades, but their sensibilities are totally in time. Both find infinite variety in the great American songbook of Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, et al. As soon as these two singers picked up the phone for this transcontinental call, they began the easy banter of old pals. Memories prompted laughs and shared insights--even improvised duets.

VIVIEN GOLDMAN: Where is everybody?

TONY BENNETT: Well, I'm in the rain. [singing] In New York City, isn't this a lovely day to get caught in the rain....

DIANA KRALL: And I'm in L.A.

VG: How did you guys first meet?

DK: It was in Italy, in Perugia, about four years ago. There was a small club called the Blue Gardenia with a big picture of Nat King Cole, and I still remember peeking through the curtain and seeing Tony in the front row. The whole time we played he had a huge smile on his face, and we just elevated our musicianship up to like the nth degree.

VG: You've both done versions of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

TB: It was my first recording. It was kind of a social statement when I sang it, because of all the people less fortunate in the world. The song just tells a story about the boulevard of instant dreams, and it was an instant hit.

VG: Diana, did you partly do it because you loved the Tony version?

DK: Yes, I did. Also, when I was a kid I had a poster of James Dean on my wall with "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" on the bottom.

VG: Diana, when you were growing up, what significance did Tony have?

DK: The thing I've always heard in Tony is truth and beauty. When I was in high school I got the albums he did with Bill Evans. I can still see myself in my bedroom listening to them over and over and trying to transcribe the introduction to "My Foolish Heart." Tony understands about telling a story lyrically; he taught me about intimacy in telling a story. [to Bennett] And you don't sing the same song the same way ever.

TB: Oh never, no. It's the moment that counts and makes the show alive. Jazz is my favorite form of music, and it's really American; it's the only thing we've contributed to the rest of the world as far as culture goes. We had a golden era in the '20s and '30s. I really regret the way the young performers are being treated today; it's all about marketing. I've just started a high school, the Frank Sinatra School of Performing Arts, in Astoria [New York City], where students actually go into the field and perform in front of people before they graduate. We have Harry Belafonte and Wynton Marsalis....

DK: Can I enroll?

TB: [laughs] Yes, we want you to be an adviser.

DK: No, I wanna be a student.

VG: Diana when you started out you weren't singing, right?

DK: I was just playing piano. For a long time I wanted to sing, but I wanted to sound like Sarah Vaughn, be more of a belter. It wasn't until the last album, When I Look in Your Eyes [1999], that I felt comfortable singing.

TB: Don't stop doing it, because, you see, you have a great advantage. There's nothing more powerful than words. And when you have a great song on your hands and you're singing it intimately, like you do, you have this wonderful communication with the public.

DK: I love finding lyrics that express what I can't.

TB: [singing] "I took a trip on a train and I thought about you...." The words take you. Everyone looks out a train window and dreams about something.

Vivien Goldman profiled Catatonia's Cerys Matthews in the June issue. The cr[grave{e}]me of the croon: Tony Bennett and Diana Krall (center). Grooming for Tony Bennett by Michael DeChesere.