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The Montreal Gazette, July 9, 2007
Shows that struck a chord with us
Here are the shows Gazette writers on the Montreal International Jazz Festival beat
picked as highlights of the 11-day music marathon.
From Arthur Kaptanis's top 5 concerts of the Festival:
Diane Nalini Quartet (July 1, Upstairs): Sweet-voiced and versatile, this Montreal singer can do Shakespeare
and bossa nova. But her best work is in the language of Molière.
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La Presse, July 3, 2007
by Daniel Lemay
"La chanteuse montréalaise Diane Nalini est montée sur scène avec son
quartet, et, en deux mesures, a mis la place à ses genoux, aidée en cela par le jeu tout
en douceurs de la pianiste Vanessa Rodrigues..."
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The Montreal Gazette, July 3, 2007
by Arthur Kaptanis
"Notes from the 2007 Montreal Jazz Festival"
Happily, there was time to hear another Montrealer, Diane Nalini, at Upstairs. She is also a diversologist,
but in identifiable styles. Her diction is impeccable, a helpful trait when singing Shakespeare, although her voice
deepened and blossomed notably in the Piafesque Quand elle rit aux eclats. A gospel take on Where the Bee Sucks (from The
Tempest) most certainly did not, and Billie's Blues concluded the set with some sass. Bossa nova also went well. Gracious
and beautiful, Nalini needed just an extra touch of bourbon in her voice, and attitude, early in the set.
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Hour Magazine, June 27, 2007
by Mark Chamberlain
"Hour digs up the hidden gems at the Jazz Festival."
Les Soirées Jazz Upstairs Montreal's best jazz club, Upstairs, hosts a ticketed series featuring a number of top local and Canadian jazz musicians, including pianist Wray Downes, singers Diane Nalini and Ranee Lee... Out-of-towners
should make sure to check out these musicians, whose names and music you might not know but should."
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The Kitchener-Waterloo Record, October 3, 2005
by ROBERT REID
Excerpt from review of Jimmy Webb concert (Diane Nalini opening) of October 1, 2005 at the Guelph River Run Center
Jazz vocalist Diane Nalini, who moved to Guelph from her hometown of Montreal a couple of months ago, opened for Webb with seven songs over 40 minutes.
Nalini made an auspicious Guelph concert debut.
Accompanied by Joey Goldstein on electric guitar and Kieran Overs on standup bass, she delivered a delightfully eclectic assortment of songs from her two albums, After dusk and Tales My Mama Told Me.
She looks young enough to be a student, but the 30-year-old is actually a physics professor at the University of Guelph who graduated with a doctorate from Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. In addition to being a gifted arranger and vocalist, she was a dancer of classical, jazz and modern dance for 15 years.
Nalini performed a couple of standards, including Rogers and Hart's Blue Moon, Billie Holiday's Billie's Blues and a bossa nova in Portuguese. But the highlights were three passages from literature she set to jazz - Sigh No More from Much Ado About Nothing and The Lover and His Lass from As You Like It, as well as Alfred Lord Tennyson's Cradle Song.
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All About Jazz,
by TOM TERRELL
Review of Diane's show at the 2001 Montreal International Jazz Festival
"... Who she? She's a twenty-something Montrealer, Rhodes Scholar, Doctor of Applied Physics (lunches with Richard Dawkins!), Oxford Fellow, speaks four languages, soon come big time jazz chanteuse... Nalini and ace Canuck jazzbos Mike Rud, Dave Watts (guitar, bass; respectively) rendered a hustling/bustling noontime shopping mall (Place du Complexe Desjardins) silent and spellbound. Tall, thick, lustrous hair pulled back, ochre complexion, laughing eyes, warm smile. Mellifluous contralto, emotively nuanced, rhythmically pliable, seductively melodic, phrases like back in the day (Billie, Ella, and Carmen). Chile could sang. In French ("La Mer" AKA "Beyond The Sea"), Portuguese ("Carolina"), English (Stars Fell On Alabama", "How Long Has This Been Going On?"). Old wine in sparkling new bottles. Think Sade with jazz chops.
Nalini's first gig was singing along to Ella in the family living room. She was three years old. A professional since '91, Nalini produced her debut recording After Dusk in 2000 (www.dianenalini.com). 10 tracks, including those aforementioned and two fine Nalini originals ("The portrait On The Wall", "After Dusk"). Festival highlight?"
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The Oxford Times, March 2001
by HUGH VICKERS
Review of live concert March 2, 2001
"... Diane Nalini... [is] living proof of the fact that both Montreal and Vancouver are among the great jazz showcases of the world.
Certainly the first half would have done credit to the most sophisticated nightclub in either of those cities.
The 'coolness' of modern jazz, for Nalini, is found in rhythmic sophistication and the unusually equal balance between voice and musicians.
Her own contribution consisted in a notably expressive style of singing, technically accomplished enough almost to invoke the dread word 'operatic' (her beautifully-studied low notes would have done credit to many a stage mezzo).
But as always with good singers, everything else was in the end subservient to diction. In the first half, illustrated by a series of Bruni portraits of the somewhat decadent jazz idol Chet Baker, she brought out such lines as "I guess I'll go through life/ catching colds and missing trains - everything happens to me" - with a delightful, mondaine world-weariness which would have totally eluded, say, Marianne Faithfull (and Nalini is, to top it all, extremely elegant and attractive).
Her quintet of players was excellently chosen, each given a 'riff', in traditional style, in the longer pieces. They also appeared to be of virtually equal ability, though Tim Nolan's bass was brilliant and Steve Kaldestad is an extremely expressive saxophone player (I can still hear his leaping accompaniment to Nalini in the old Caribbean song Yellow Bird).
In a gloriously cynical, essentially New York piece, like Gershwin's Lorelei ("I'm lecherous, I'm treacherous"), the sophistication of the group's build-up of solos was ideal. But my own favourite was La vie en rose, a favourite of Nalini's mother, sung here with an elegant simplicity which would probably have eluded its creator Edith Piaf."
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New Music Reviews, The Montreal Gazette, March 31, 2005
by IRWIN BLOCK
Tales... My Mama Told Me **** (Four stars)
Diane Nalini has the voice, the phrasing, confidence, clarity and control to make a tune her own and turn it into a nuanced thing of beauty. From Harold Arlen's Blues in the Night, to Charlie Parker's Moose the Mooch, Rhodes scholar Nalini continues to grow as a true artist of the idiom. Her French on Jacques Prevert's Les feuilles mortes is elegant, and her Portuguese on Jobim's Corcovado equally convincing. Her bluesy music to Tennyson's Cradle Song and the rendition of a Shakespeare song, Come Away - music by pianist Martin Pickett - are among the CD's highlights. The skilled quartet that surrounds her voice includes Montreal-trained saxophonist Steve Kaldestad.
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Time Out Magazine, London, October 2001
After Dusk
"Half-Belgian, half-Goan vocalist from Montreal, Canada - now there's a muticultural petri dish - leads this modern jazz quintet performing standards, bossa nova and original material ... A recent album, 'After dusk' is a gorgeous collection of standards sung with quiet, enunciated power."
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Jazz Canadiana,
by ROBERT FOGL
"... Her new recording After Dusk which was recorded on April 7, 2000, has this seemingly interesting lady singing with virtually no place to hide.
Accompanied by Mike Rud on guitar and Dave Watts on bass, both McGill University graduates, Diane presents a mixed package of such standards as Stars Fell on Alabama, My Funny Valentine, Everytime We Say Goodbye and How Long Has This Been Going On, as well as interpretations of some familiar French melodies, including La Mer, and La Maison Sous Les Arbres.
We head south for Chico Buarque's lovely Carolina, and the vocalist delivers beautifully two of her own compositions, the title song and The Portrait On The Wall.
... her unaffected little girl charm, not relying on vocal gymnastics, is a delight to the ears."
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After Dusk
"What I like about Diane’s singing is its honesty, lack of affectation, and her obvious love of the music she is performing. Her pitching and phrasing are very musical, and her voice natural and extremely ‘listenable’. This is her first CD, and it contains a lovely range of material beautifully performed here by Diane and her accompanists”.
Acclaimed vocalist NORMA WINSTONE.
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After Dusk
" ... This recording presents music from remarkably diverse sources. In addition to performing tunes from the ‘Great American Songbook,’ the multi-lingual Diane presents fresh personal interpretations of the modern French chanson. As a composer and lyricist (‘After dusk’/’Portrait’) Diane seems to favour the melancholy and dreamlike atmosphere heard in Gilbert Bécaud’s continental music. Brazilian star Chico Buarque’s ‘Carolina’ is especially suited to Diane’s deceptively simple melodic and rhythmic approach.
Performing with only guitar and bass presents a challenge that few singers would accept. The outstanding contributions of Mike Rud and Dave Watts as both accompanists and soloists have helped Diane meet the challenge and present an intimate trio performance of unadorned beauty”
DOUG ROLLINS, jazz writer
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Planet Jazz Magazine, 2001
by IAN McGILLIS
Review of After Dusk
Maybe it's her mixed parentage - a Belgian father, a Goan mother - or maybe it's having spent most of her life in cosmopolitan Montreal. Whatever it is, Diane Nalini possesses a musical curiosity (not to mention a trilingual fluency) that immediately sets her apart from most fledgling jazz songstresses. Sure she covers the usual American songbook giants - Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwins, Cole Porter. (If you think you never need to hear another version of My Funny Valentine, think again.)
But she proves herself equally at home with the continental chanson tradition, singing an incandescent version of the late Charles Trenet's La Mer. What's more, her take on Chico Buarque's Carolina whets the appetite for further dips into the bottomless Brazilian well. (A little Caetano Veloso, perhaps?) Nalini's own compositions more than hold their own in such stellar company. The album's title song, co-written with guitarist Mike Rud, has an irresistible melancholy allure.
Not given to a lot of showboating or melodic filigree, Nalini relies on a pure tone and sensitive lyric interpretation for her impact. Choosing to be backed by only guitar and bass further adds to her no-safety-net approach. Happily, it all works wonderfully. Full marks must go also to the aforementioned Rud and to bassist Dave Watts. Both products of the Jazz performance program at McGill, they provide suitably intimate accompaniment, even the occasional gentle nudge. Rud, in particular, is able to step forward with consistently surprising solos without ever distracting from the song.
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Guelph Tribune, April 18, 2006
by DOUG HALLETT
"Cosmic Coincidence" and Shakespeare... Read the article
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At Guelph, September 28, 2005
by REBECCA KENDALL
"A natural performer who captures her audience whether it be in a concert venue or in the classroom..."
Read more
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Femme Magazine, January 2005
by JOSEE BOURNIVAL
"...Ma résolution: vous faire partager mon coup de cœur musical pour Diane Nalini, une voix unique qui chante le jazz de manière si singulière..." Read more of this two-page feature.
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The Sunday Times, South Africa, February 2003
by KAREN VAN ROOYEN
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The Globe and Mail, June 2002
by IAN McGILLIS
"... Rendering songbook standards as well as French chanson, Brazilian classics, her own compositions, and settings of poems by Shakespeare and Tennyson, Nalini consistently displays bell-clear tone, meticulous enunciation, playfulness and subtle swing." Read more of this feature article.
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The Sunday Times, Malta, April 2002
by CHARLES MIFSUD
"... I was completely overwhelmed by the eloquence and limpidity of her voice. Whether interpreting American Jazz songbook giants, the continental chanson tradition, Brazilian bossa nova (new wave) music, or her original compositions, a common trait was evident: she captivates her audiences.
"... I will be back for the Jazz festival in July." We will definitely wait for Diane [to return] to savour her enchanting voice. It can cast as well as break any spell." Read more of this full-page feature
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"... Nalini captures jazz at its most sophisticated and joyous level" Kamal Al-Solaylee, Elle Magazine (Canada)
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"... one of the finest jazz & bossa nova singers of our era." João da Penha, Radio host, Rio de Janeiro.
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"Montreal's gift to the UK jazz scene" Geoffrey Smith host of "Jazz Record Requests", BBC Radio 3
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"... Diane Nalini is a lady who defies labelling. When I first met the singer and classically trained dancer at New College, I had such a field-day thinking up misty-eyed epithets for her that I almost forgot that I was meant to be interviewing her [...] as a junior research fellow in applied physics... Elegant, intelligent, and a sultry songstress to boot, this is the kind of woman that makes grown men weep..."
Alex McRae, Isis Magazine, Oxford
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"Get smart - see Nalini [...] The c.v. is impeccable"
John Griffin's 'Best Bet' of the day for July 4 at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, 2001,
The Montreal Gazette
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"... a beguiling voice with beautiful intonation."
Peter Hadekel, the Montreal Gazette
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"... a singer with a voice from another world."
Montreal Mirror Magazine
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