2015 · Album
Wallflower
Verve Records · Produced by David Foster · Released: February 3, 2015
David Foster's Hand in Diana's Cards
Foster knew exactly how to frame Krall's voice without drowning it in production noise.
David Foster's presence on Wallflower is what keeps this album from becoming just another Krall record. By 2015, Krall had made eleven studio albums—she knew how to play, how to sing, what worked in a room. What she needed was a producer who wouldn't add unnecessary architecture. Foster, who had spent decades building massive pop productions for everyone from Whitney Houston to Céline Dion, here chose restraint instead. He understood that a piano-led album with a vocalist this assured doesn't need orchestration. It needs clarity.
The album itself is straightforward: Krall at the piano with a rhythm section, working through standards and a few jazz originals. Nothing revolutionary. But Foster's choices in the studio—how close the microphone sits to her voice, how much space around the drums, the decision to let a song breathe instead of fill it—these are what make Wallflower sit comfortably in her catalog rather than fighting for attention. It's a late-career record from an artist who stopped trying to prove anything years ago. The songs are well-chosen, the playing is solid, and Foster didn't get in the way.
The Wallflower World Tour launched in Boston on February 25, 2015, and ran long enough to show the material had legs with audiences. Not every album needs to change the world. Sometimes you just need a good producer who knows when to say no.
Who's playing
Dennis Crouchbass
Nathan Eastbass
Diana Krallpiano
Ramón Stagnaroacoustic guitar
Dean Parksguitar
Blake Millsguitar
Jochem van der Saagsynthesizer
Karriem Rigginsdrums
Jim Keltnerdrums
David Walter Fosterkeyboard
Michael Thompsonebow
Where next?
More by Diana Krall
All 22 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
