Diana Krall: Peel Me A Grape
Musicians:
Diana Krall (vocals, piano), Russell Malone (guitar), Christian McBride (bass).
Composed by Dave Frishberg
.Recorded: Los Angeles (?), February-March 1997
Rating: 90/100 (learn more)
Several years ago at a Diana Krall performance in Denver, a man in the audience yelled out the predictable “I Love You, Diana”. She retorted, “No, you don’t want me—I’m too high-maintenance!”. Then she launched into “Peel Me A Grape”, which must be the anthem for high-maintenance women. The song, one of Dave Frisberg’s earliest works, takes its title from a famous Mae West line. Frishberg takes the title idea and runs with it, combining realistic requests with outlandish invented ones: Pop me a cork/French me a fry. While the song was reasonably well-known before, it was Diana Krall’s version that made the song a hit. Krall made a few politically correct changes to the lyric (Start me a smoke never turns up, and there are repeated lyrics which seem unusual for a Frishberg lyric), but what makes Krall’s version so enticing is the slow, slinky tempo and Krall’s soft, come-hither delivery. And lest we make the mistake of focusing on Krall’s vocals at the expense of her piano playing, dig her marvelous solo on this track: it nearly says as much without words as her vocal does with words.
Reviewer: Thomas Cunniffe
Tags: 1990s jazz · jazz vocals · piano
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