“Daily you walked in and checked out footage of Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, and John Coltrane on the wall, and instantly acquired decreased 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 12 months, which yielded her sixth album, The Look Of Love. Definitely to some, the studio’s sense of historical past may very well be daunting, maybe, however in keeping with veteran recording engineer Al Schmitt, who labored on The Look Of Love, Krall was impressed fairly than intimidated by the pictures on Capitol’s partitions. “She advised me they made her deliver her sport 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 one of the 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 crew,” enthused Krall, “they usually see you stripped down – not within the literal sense, however they actually see you susceptible 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 an inventory of about 25 tunes. Then we went and recorded them with simply piano and voice and labored out which of them must be tried and which of them must be saved for later. Then it was a technique 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 one in all my favourite rooms and it grew to become like our lounge, 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 an exquisite feeling of the spirits there that linger within the room, and it made everyone simply deliver their sport up slightly bit.”
By way of its materials, the album largely comprised requirements from the Nice American Songbook, although the file’s centerpiece, and title monitor, 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 giant 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 the most effective ever. Any time you’ll speak to a different arranger, they’d say Claus was the man.” The string periods – with the arranger conducting – befell at Abbey Highway studios in London. “We did them with the London Symphony Orchestra,” mentioned Krall. “It’s such an excellent orchestra. It was superb 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 crew for the reason that late 70s, however knew one another earlier than that. Schmitt recalled, “Tommy and I met in 1962 once I was his employees producer at RCA and he was a track plugger. He had 100% religion and belief in me within the management room getting the sounds proper. He hardly ever 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 alter, he might instantly reply to it.”
Based on Schmitt, LiPuma’s primary energy was placing everybody he labored with, together with Diana Krall, relaxed. “He made everyone really feel so comfy,” he mentioned. “I by no means noticed Tommy get offended within the studio. He at all times might work out a state of affairs with none type of problem if issues had been hectic or there have been some flawed issues happening. He made issues simple. His periods went easily so there was by no means any stress to get issues carried out 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 look at. Each time she was within the studio, she discovered one thing… Proper now, she’s on the prime of her sport. 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 file.”
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 creative and industrial triumph. It went Platinum within the US, Canada, Australia, France, and New Zealand, and instantly reworked Krall right into a jazz celebrity with sold-out live shows everywhere in the world. Al Schmitt reaped a Grammy award for his work on the album. “It felt good,” mentioned the engineer. “Once you win one thing that’s for a labor of affection and is expensive 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 top of her artistic 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. Any individual else may not have allowed me to do a file like this.”
This text was first revealed in 2017. We’re re-publishing it at this time to have a good time the anniversary of its launch. The Look Of Love could be purchased right here.