If this album were parred down anymore it would be silent. This is minimalism at it's purest, audible best. It is quite simply beautiful and sexy and therefore has the perfect title: Quiet Nights. From it's understated but eye catching [due to the tousled hair, strapless dress and inviting smile of it's songstress] to the cherry picked 10 tracks of standards plus 2 bonus tracks and 2 bonus videos no less, this album oozes sophistication.
Apart from the track choices and the the sublime laid-backness of Krall's vocals, the album's success is due to the same team who produced her 2001 album The Look Of Love, namely producer Tommy LiPuma and the wonderful orchestrations of Claus Ogerman. It's a magical trio who cast a delicious sound of soft bossa nova, ballads and string backdrops from which there is no escape. Put it on and it is bound to woo.
Even Too Marvellous For Words, which can have it's vocal heights, is given the gentle touch. The Boy From Ipanema will be a radio track I am sure and Walk On By may not be to some people's liking but her spin on it works for me as she bends the notes where she wants to and not where you would expect.
Krall's voice is so sultry that at times it's a whisper but it still retains it's place at the centre of each track. Her one note piano playing makes you wonder if she turned up at all to the studio, it's as if she just had a spare hour at home and decided to have a 'play-around' at home, such is the intimacy on this flawless CD.
