Canadian Krall & multi-national Ollabelle = a fabulous Fourth

July 4, 2004 performance, by Dave Conlin Read

Diana Krall's Independence Day performance in the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood was dynamite; a bravura display of vocal and intsrumental virtuosity from the fetching and personable Canadian, whose previous Shed appearances were as Tony Bennets's guest.

Kudos to B.S.O. management for a bold programming stroke - more than vindicated by the audience of 14,534 - which included the late addition of Ollabelle, a relatively new band that just maybe amounting to an overnight sensation.

During her generous 90 minute set, Ms. Krall displayed an engaging range of style in delivering songs from composers such as Tom Waits, Peggy Lee, Mose Allsion and her new groom and writing partner, Elvis Costello. She sauntered onto the stage and over to her piano, situated to the left of and facing away from her terrific band, wearing ordinary blue jeans and a lacy black blouse.

The Shed stage was decorated simply with background curtains and an array of lighting effects that complemented the program beautifully as Ms. Krall moved across a full range of emotions.

Her band (Anthony Wilson, guitar; Robert Hurst,bass; Peter Erskine, drums) was a crackerjack combo, whose solos were nice contrasts to Krall's work which was otherwise supported and embellished by their deft playing.

Ollabelle are some kind of phenomenon, a sextet (including Australian and a Canadian) from a variety of musical backgrounds that became a group soon after starting to jam together at a NYC club less than three years ago.

Drawn together by a devotion to "rural, American, roots music," as stated in their official bio., they've apparently hit paydirt at Sony records, being booked to open Diana Krall's summer tour, and also scoring a spot at the Newport Folk Festival. Local fans can see them at Club Helsinki August 7, the night before their Newport gig.

These are gifted musicians who display a genius for subsuming their individual identities in the organic band - as you watch Ollabelle perform, the emphasis will shift among the musicians but the spotlight always remains on the band. (Of course, that's the way all bands work, but it just seems especially noteworthy with Ollabelle.)

They closed their set with a splendidly fresh version of "Down By The Riverside" that left the audience eager for more. No mean feat that - breathing exhilirating life into an often-hackneyed standard. Shouldn't be long before Ollabelle are headlining the old Shed themselves!