Coffee Spew

Like many coffee spewers, we’re suckers for a new Diana Krall CD, even though her prolific output has been generally uneven since Live in Paris (2002). Her latest, Quiet Nights, is once again a fairly safe mix of songbook standards and soft-rock covers. Reconfiguring pop chestnuts as “jazz tunes” can be a tiresome gimmick to attract aging boomers. But it didn’t seem that way when Cassandra Wilson set the gold standard with her smokey version of “Last Train to Clarksville” on New Moon Daughter (1995). And Krall, to be fair, did fine by Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are” and the Bacharach/David “The Look of Love,” both of which show up on Live in Paris. Quiet Nights has three smooth-jazz makeovers, the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” which didn’t much impress us, ditto another Bacharach/David tune, “Walk On By,” and—the album’s best cut—an unexpectedly beautiful cover of Paul McCartney’s “For No One.” Krall’s version is gorgeous, aided in no small part by legendary arranger Claus Ogerman, whose distinctively ethereal orchestrations were behind some of Sinatra’s best 60s work. Perfect for a Beatles tune, in fact, because Ogerman’s touch has an uncluttered elegance not dissimilar from that of George Martin’s. After listening to Krall sing “For No One,” we were inspired to dust off the Revolver CD and listen to McCartney’s original. Then we got caught up listening again to the entire epochal album (if not our favorite Beatles album, which most days is Abbey Road). As for Diana Krall, at the very least download “For No One.” Great song, so-so album.