Diana Krall’s vintage sound

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Diana Krall says she felt reinvigorated making her new CD, “Glad Rag Doll,” which gave her a chance to escape the comfort zone of Great American Songbook standards on which the singer-pianist has built her reputation.

“It’s always exciting to do something where you surprise yourself, and it’s like, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that,’” said Krall. “I felt it was time for me to do something which is about what I hear and I like, not a tribute to Nat Cole.”

On the CD, Krall reimagines mostly vintage songs from the 1920s and ’30s in an eclectic style that goes way beyond her jazz roots. The album was produced by retro Americana specialist T Bone Burnett, best known for the Grammy-winning Robert Plant-Alison Krauss CD “Raising Sand” and “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack. Burnett surrounded her with a new supporting cast of musicians, including the versatile guitarist Marc Ribot, who plays an intimate acoustic duet with Krall on the title track.

The essence of the album is captured in the slightly risque cover portrait. The 47-year-old mother poses in vintage black lingerie and stockings selected by Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood, yet her blond hair and makeup are in a contemporary style. Krall says she was going for an updated version of Albert Cheney Johnston’s photographs of Ziegfeld Follies showgirls.