Executive & Artistic Director

Thor Steingraber

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Diana Krall

Wed May 14 | 8pm

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Program | Program Note

Performers

Diana Krall | John Clayton | Jeff Hamilton | Anthony Wilson

Tour Staff & Crew

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About The Soraya

Our Supporters | The Soraya Team

Diana Krall

Diana Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. To date, her albums have garnered two GRAMMY® Awards and 10 Juno® Awards. They have also earned nine gold, three platinum and seven multiplatinum certifications. Krall’s unique artistry transcends any single musical style and has made her one of the most recognizable artists of our time. As The New York Times recently noted, Krall possesses “a voice at once cool and sultry, wielded with a rhythmic sophistication.”

Born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Krall grew up in the western part of Canada and began studying the piano when she was 4 years old. By the time she was 15, she was performing jazz locally, and with the encouragement of her father — a stride pianist with a vast knowledge of ’20s and ’30s keyboard masters, such as Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, and Earl Hines — she devoted herself to music. “I think Dad had every recording Fats Waller ever made,” says Krall, “and I tried to learn as many as I could.”

Krall was still a teenager when she was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. After two years in Boston, she moved to Los Angeles, where she met her first jazz heavyweights, including bassist John Clayton, drummer Jeff Hamilton, pianist and singer Jimmy Rowles, and Ray Brown, the legendary bassist who served as her musical mentor.

In 1993, the Montreal-based Justin Time Records released Krall's debut album, Stepping Out. The following year, she signed with GRP Records and recorded Only Trust Your Heart, which featured Brown on bass and Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone. Only Trust Your Heart also marked the beginning of Krall's association with Tommy LiPuma, a collaboration that would continue until LiPuma’s untimely passing in 2017.

Krall’s success continued with her subsequent releases All for You and Love Scenes, but her watershed moment came in 1999 with the release of When I Look in Your Eyes, her first release for the historic Verve Records. The recording spent an unprecedented 52 weeks in the No. 1 position on Billboard’s jazz chart, won two Grammy Awards and went platinum in the U.S. and Canada. Krall’s next album, The Look of Love, continued her international success and became a top 10 seller on Billboard’s Top 200 album charts. Since then, she has released a string of recordings that have created an impressive body of work, including her critically acclaimed Turn Up the Quiet, which won two Juno Awards, including producer of the year. Love Is Here to Stay found Krall collaborating with her longtime friend and colleague Tony Bennett. It was recorded with the Grammy Award-winning Bill Charlap Trio, and the stunning result is a subtle, sophisticated and beautifully rendered love letter to the Gershwins’ music and their status as one of the premier songwriters of the American popular standard. It is a masterclass in vocal delivery and phrasing. The command of the material that Bennett and Krall display in both their duets and solo tracks makes it appear effortless, belying the honed skills of the vocalists. The duet tracks include “Love Is Here to Stay,” “S’Wonderful,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” and “Fascinating Rhythm.”

Krall’s album This Dream of You has garnered critical acclaim from fans and press alike. The album is a loving conclusion of her 25-year working relationship with LiPuma. Shortly before his passing, the producer and artist discussed the abundance of great music recorded at their last sessions together. LiPuma was adamant that this music should be completed and issued. Krall and engineer Al Schmitt mixed and sequenced the album for the 2020 release, and they honored their great and much-missed friend. From this release came the worldwide premiere of “Autumn in New York,” a cinematic ode to the city, directed by Krall’s longtime collaborator and friend Mark Seliger, offering a visual compliment to Krall’s loving and hopeful performance of the song.

Krall’s recordings have been included in several film soundtracks, and she has expanded upon her role as a performer to include songwriting, producing and arranging. She has collaborated with many artists including Paul McCartney, Barbra Streisand, and Bennett. Krall tours extensively around the globe to sold-out audiences, appearing at premier jazz festivals and concert halls throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

John Clayton

Bassist, composer, arranger and producer John Clayton is a Grammy winner with 11 Grammy nominations. He has written and recorded with numerous artists such as Diana Krall, Milt Jackson, Paul McCartney, Regina Carter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gladys Knight, Queen Latifah, McCoy Tyner, Yo-Yo Ma, and Charles Aznavour.

Clayton was the principal bassist in the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 1980 to 1984. In 1986, he co-founded the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and rekindled The Clayton Brothers quintet. Clayton is also the big band director for The Jazz Cruise. In addition to his individual clinics and workshops, he also directs the educational components of the Vail Jazz Workshop. Clayton’s arrangement of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” helped propel Whitney Houston in her 1991 performance at the Super Bowl (the recording went platinum).

Clayton's recordings with the Clayton Brothers, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Jackson, Monty Alexander, Count Basie, and others are plentiful. “I’ve been guided by a village of musicians who helped me understand the humility that goes along with playing music at the highest level you can,” Clayton says. “Ray Brown used to tell me, ‘Learn how to play the bass!’ Just take care of the music and it will take care of you.”

Jeff Hamilton

Jeff Hamilton was born in Richmond, Indiana. He attended Indiana University and later studied with John Von Ohlen. Hamilton was influenced by Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Mel Lewis, “Philly” Joe Jones, and Shelly Manne.

In 1974, Hamilton got his first big break playing with the New Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He then joined the Lionel Hampton Big Band until 1975 when he, along with bassist John Clayton, became members of the Monty Alexander Trio. Hamilton attained a childhood goal in 1977 when he joined Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd, with whom he made several recordings. In 1978, Hamilton was offered a position with the L.A. 4 with Ray Brown, Bud Shank, and Laurindo Almeida. He recorded six records with the L.A. 4.

From 1983 to 1987, Hamilton performed with Ella Fitzgerald, the Count Basie Orchestra, Rosemary Clooney, and Monty Alexander. Hamilton began his association with the Ray Brown Trio in 1988, and he left in March 1995 to concentrate on his own trio. From 1990 to 1995, he was also a member of the Oscar Peterson Quartet with Herb Ellis and Brown. The Los Angeles Jazz Society named Hamilton and his musical partner, Clayton, musicians of the year for 2006. Hamilton has toured with his trio, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, and Diana Krall. Two of Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra’s recordings, And So It Goes and The L.A. Treasures Project, were nominated for Grammy Awards.

Hamilton has been on more than 200 recordings with numerous artists such as Krall, Clooney, Brown, Natalie Cole, Milt Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Mel Tormé, John Pizzarelli, Benny Carter, Lalo Schifrin, George Shearing, Dr. John, Clark Terry, Gene Harris, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Scott Hamilton, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Keely Smith, Bill Holman, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Paul McCartney, Queen Latifah, Gladys Knight, Mark Murphy, and Wilford Brimley. Hamilton appeared in Krall’s Live in Paris and Live in Rio DVDs. He also appeared in Natalie Cole’s Great Performances PBS special, “Unforgettable With Love,” and an Oscar Peterson documentary, Music in the Key of Oscar.

Hamilton is a multiple winner of Modern Drummer magazine readers’ poll. In 2014, Hamilton was inducted into The Jazz Cruise Hall of Fame. Along with John and Gerald Clayton, Hamilton is the 2017 Monterey Jazz Festival Artist in Residence and recipient of the 2018 Louis Armstrong award from the Sarasota Jazz Society.

Anthony Wilson

Born in Los Angeles in 1968, guitarist and composer Anthony Wilson is known for a body of work that moves fluidly across genres.

The son of legendary jazz trumpeter and bandleader Gerald Wilson, Anthony Wilson’s musical lineage has deeply influenced his creative trajectory, compositional choices, instrumental groupings, and the wide-ranging discography that blooms out of them.

Anthony Wilson’s self-titled first album, in 1997, featured a nine-piece “little big band” and received a Grammy nomination for best large jazz ensemble performance. It was followed by Goat Hill Junket (1998), and Adult Themes (1999). His fourth recording with the nonet, Power of Nine (2006), was recognized as one of the top 10 jazz albums of the year by The New Yorker. Wilson’s acclaimed trio albums Our Gang (2001), Savivity (2005), and Jack of Hearts (2009) reimagine and reframe the Hammond organ-based genre of post-bop, soul-inflected jazz. In 2011, he released Seasons, a live record and short film documenting the compositional process and premiere performance of his extended song cycle of the same name, written for and performed on a quartet of luthier John Monteleone’s handcrafted guitars called “The Four Seasons.” That same year, Wilson released Campo Belo, a collection of original instrumental songs recorded in Sao Paulo.

Traveling into, through, and beyond genres, Frogtown (2016) marked a turning point for Anthony Wilson as a composer and his debut as a songwriter and singer. Renowned producer Mike Elizondo teamed with him to realize this collection of layered, intimate musical stories, and portraits. In Songs and Photographs (2019), Wilson’s distilled, personal musical compositions enter into a dialogue with his 35 mm photography. The work develops from two intertwined paths, one sonic and one visual, that increasingly play complementary roles in his creative process.

An inventive soloist and sensitive accompanist, Anthony Wilson has been a core member of Diana Krall’s quartet since 2001, after joining her for a series of concerts in Paris at the Olympia Theater, which became the Grammy Award-winning recording and concert film Live in Paris (2002).

Over the past two decades, Anthony Wilson has joined a diverse roster of jazz masters on their recordings and performances, including Charles Lloyd, Ron Carter, Mose Allison, Bobby Hutcherson, Madeleine Peyroux, Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, and Harold Land. And while his footing is firmly rooted in the jazz idiom, Wilson pivots with ease into other genres, having contributed his instrumental texture, improvisational authority, and orchestration to albums by pop music legends Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, Aaron Neville, and Barbra Streisand.

Anthony Wilson was awarded the Thelonious Monk Institute International Composers’ Award in 1995. He has also received commissions from Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, the International Association for Jazz Education, the Henry Mancini Institute, and the Jazz Coalition Commission Fund. In 2018, he was selected as a MacDowell Fellow.