Verve Pursues Vinyl Frontier, Reissues 8 Krall LPs

As part of Verve Records’ 60th anniversary celebration, Verve/UMe will release eight essential Diana Krall albums in 180-gram, two-LP vinyl reissues. The pianist and vocalist, who placed atop the Female Vocalist category of the 2015 DownBeat Readers Poll, has called Verve home for the majority of her career. The reissues will be available July 15.

The series begins with All For You, Krall’s reverent tribute to the Nat “King” Cole Trio, originally released by Impulse! in 1996. The album features Krall leading a trio with guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Paul Keller, with guest appearances by pianist Benny Green and percussionist Steve Kroon.

Its follow-up, 1997’s Love Scenes, includes 13 of Krall’s favorite love songs, performed by her trio with Malone and Christian McBride on bass. The series also includes her Grammy-winning album When I Look in Your Eyes (1999) and The Look of Love (2001), which spotlights Krall’s vocals backed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

The 2001 live album Live In Paris, recorded at the Olympia Music Hall, is also part of the set, and features the Orchestre Symphonique Européen conducted by pianist/arranger Alan Broadbent.

The Girl In The Other Room (2004), another reissue, was Krall’s first release to prominently feature her original songs, many of them written in collaboration with her husband, Elvis Costello. She returned to the Great American Songbook for 2006’s From This Moment On, which garnered a Best Jazz Vocal Album nomination at the 2007 Grammy Awards and which is also included in this set.

The series concludes with Krall’s 2009 album, Quiet Nights, which features three songs composed by DownBeat Hall of Fame inductee Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Verve Records was founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the jazz impresario responsible for the popular Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts. Granz also managed Ella Fitzgerald and launched the label in large part to exhibit the singer’s talent, most importantly on her landmark Songbook recordings.

For more information on Verve’s 60th anniversary celebration, visit the label’s website.

—Brian Zimmerman