“On daily basis you walked in and checked out photos of Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, and John Coltrane on the wall, and instantly acquired diminished to the scale of a pea,” laughed a self-effacing Diana Krall in 2001. The Canadian singer was speaking about her visits to the hallowed floor that was Hollywood’s legendary Capitol Studios in March and June of that yr, which yielded her sixth album, The Look Of Love. Actually to some, the studio’s sense of historical past could possibly be daunting, maybe, however in line with veteran recording engineer Al Schmitt, who labored on The Look Of Love, Krall was impressed reasonably than intimidated by the images on Capitol’s partitions. “She instructed me they made her carry her recreation up one other notch,” Schmitt recalled.
Launched by Verve on September 18, 2001, The Look Of Love – a luxurious assortment of languorous, string-laden ballads and sultry bossa novas – discovered Krall, then 36, reuniting with Grammy-winning veteran producer, the late Tommy LiPuma, who had labored with the singer since 1995 and helmed her earlier three LPs. “We now have six years of belief and are on the level the place we will say something to one another,” recalled Krall in 2001, describing her symbiotic relationship with LiPuma, whose quite a few credit included George Benson, Al Jarreau, Randy Crawford, Barbra Streisand, and Paul McCartney. “I can say something to him and he can say something to me. We respect one another. It’s in all probability the very best working relationship I’ve ever had.”
Hearken to The Look Of Love proper now.
Becoming a member of LiPuma and Krall was the producer’s trusted sidekick, Al Schmitt, famend for his consideration to sonic element. “They’re this nice group,” enthused Krall, “they usually see you stripped down – not within the literal sense, however they actually see you weak and uncovered and pissed off and joyous. Making music with them is a really intimate course of.”
Explaining how The Look Of Love took form, Krall mentioned, “I had an idea after which I sat down with Tommy and we made a listing of about 25 tunes. Then we went and recorded them with simply piano and voice and labored out which of them ought to be tried and which of them ought to be saved for later. Then it was a strategy of recording 17 tunes after which whittling them all the way down to 10 for the album.”
“We recorded all of the rhythm tracks in Studio A at Capitol Studios in Hollywood,” recalled Al Schmitt. “It’s certainly one of my favourite rooms and it grew to become like our front room, it was so comfy to be there. Diana beloved it and he or she acquired to make use of Frank Sinatra’s microphone, the one which he used on most of his songs that had been recorded at Capitol, so there was a beautiful feeling of the spirits there that linger within the room, and it made all people simply carry their recreation up slightly bit.”
By way of its materials, the album principally comprised requirements from the Nice American Songbook, although the document’s centerpiece, and title observe, was the youngest tune, having been written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David within the mid-60s. Krall transforms it right into a sensuous boss nova, whose temper is enhanced by the presence of a big string orchestra organized and performed by the redoubtable German arranger, the late Claus Ogerman, whose quite a few credit ranged from Invoice Evans and Stan Getz to George Benson and Frank Sinatra.
“Claus was my all-time favourite arranger,” mentioned Al Schmitt. “He’s the arrangers’ arranger and top-of-the-line ever. Any time you’d discuss to a different arranger, they’d say Claus was the man.” The string periods – with the arranger conducting – befell at Abbey Street studios in London. “We did them with the London Symphony Orchestra,” mentioned Krall. “It’s such a superb orchestra. It was wonderful as a result of they had been so into it. It was only a pleasure.”
Producer Tommy LiPuma and engineer Al Schmitt had been working as a group for the reason that late 70s, however knew one another earlier than that. Schmitt recalled, “Tommy and I met in 1962 after I was his workers producer at RCA and he was a tune plugger. He had 100% religion and belief in me within the management room getting the sounds proper. He not often was within the management sales space and stayed out within the studio with the musicians as a result of if he heard one thing he didn’t like or wished to vary, he might instantly reply to it.”
Based on Schmitt, LiPuma’s primary power was placing everybody he labored with, together with Diana Krall, comfy. “He made all people really feel so comfy,” he mentioned. “I by no means noticed Tommy get indignant within the studio. He at all times might work out a state of affairs with none form of trouble if issues had been hectic or there have been some mistaken issues occurring. He made issues simple. His periods went easily so there was by no means any stress to get issues finished at a sure time.”
The veteran recording engineer first collaborated with Diana Krall in 1995 and noticed, with every challenge they labored on, how she blossomed as a musician. “She simply acquired higher with each album,” he acknowledged. “It was fantastic to observe. Each time she was within the studio, she realized one thing… Proper now, she’s on the prime of her recreation. Her [2017] album, Flip Up The Quiet, the final album that Tommy and I labored on collectively, which was additionally recorded at Capitol, is only a beautiful document.”
Recalling the blending periods at Capitol, Diana Krall mentioned, “The management sales space was like within the Sinatra days. A bunch of individuals had been there: [jazz pianist] Horace Silver, Michael Feinstein; the Bergmans [noted husband-and-wife songwriting team, Alan and Marilyn] additionally confirmed up.”
The Look Of Love proved a complete inventive and industrial triumph. It went Platinum within the US, Canada, Australia, France, and New Zealand, and instantly reworked Krall right into a jazz famous person with sold-out concert events all around the world. Al Schmitt reaped a Grammy award for his work on the album. “It felt good,” mentioned the engineer. “While you win one thing that’s for a labor of affection and is pricey to your coronary heart, it’s at all times good.”
The Look Of Love stays a musical touchstone in Diana Krall’s profession, and arguably represents the head of her inventive collaboration with Tommy LiPuma, who died on March 18, 2017, aged 80. “He’s like one other artist,” mentioned Diana Krall, summing up the producer’s distinctive attributes in 2001. “He’s so into the music, and that’s his initially precedence, to the purpose the place it’s like, ‘Do the music first and we’ll promote it after.’ He’s very intense and has a really emotional sense of issues. I’m so fortunate I met him. Anyone else may not have allowed me to do a document like this.”
This text was first printed in 2017. We’re re-publishing it right now to have a good time the anniversary of its launch. The Look Of Love could be purchased right here.
