By Scoot Bauer
December 8, 2008
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Diana Krall describes her first record in three years as intimate, sensual — and erotic.

"I'm not coy single girl singing 'Peel Me A Grape.' I love that song but I don't love it for me any more," Krall, 43, said from her Vancouver, British Columbia home in an interview last week. "I feel more womanly, I guess, and I think this record is a love letter but very sensual, more on the erotic side. It's definitely late night."

"Quiet Nights," to be released on March 31, is Krall's CD of new material in three years.

The sultry jazz vocalist and pianist known for her crossover appeal had twin sons with husband Elvis Costello in 2006; they turned 2 Dec. 6. Krall said she's never been happier, and the record reflects that.

The 10 songs include ballads, three recordings of songs by bossa nova legend Antonio Carlos Jobim, and standards such as "Walk On By" by Burt Bacharach.

"It was just the greatest recording experience I've had to date," said Krall, who was inspired to make the record following a trip to Brazil last year.

A two-time Grammy winner, Krall is surrounded by familiar faces on "Quiet Nights." In addition to her longtime quartet and producer Tommy LiPuma, who worked with her on nine previous recordings, arranger Claus Ogerman returns. He last worked with Krall on her 2001 record "The Look of Love."

Ogerman was the arranger on many of bossa nova's first wave of recordings in the 1960s, working with Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz and Bill Evans. Ogerman came out of semiretirement to once again work with Krall.

LiPuma, who first worked with Krall in 1994, said the record shows how she has matured as a singer.

"She approaches her vocal phrasing much more like an instrumentalist than a straight singer," LiPuma said. "It's in her reading of the lyrics, and the timbre of her voice, much more misty like Peggy Lee in her mature period."

In addition to finishing "Quiet Nights," Krall is producing a new Barbra Streisand record that is slated to be completed in January and released sometime in 2009. Krall intends to tour North America in April following the release of "Quiet Nights."

"I think I've reached the best time in my life," Krall said. "I really went through some rough spots with the death of my mother (in 2002). ... But now that I have my own family, I'm working as hard as I ever worked, but I feel like I have it all."

Ooh this might be nice. Looking forward to it.