Strike Up the Band

Sinatra’s 1966 live album with Count Basie’s big band is "one of my favorite records on my whole list of records I can’t live without," says the singer-pianist, who plays today through Sunday at the Las Vegas Hilton. That, and an earlier Sands live album by Nat King Cole, are "my whole reason for doing this big-band record."

The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra backs Krall on her recent album, "From This Moment On." Her Hilton stint and a pair of August dates at the Hollywood Bowl are the only ones on her summer tour that will feature the big band.

The tour is Krall’s first since the birth of twin boys to her and husband, Elvis Costello, in December. "I don’t need a personal trainer, I’m lifting 18-pound babies all day," says the 42-year-old singer.

"I’ve always played music. It’s been the single force in my life, my outlet for everything. And now I have two other most important things in my life. I don’t do anything halfheartedly, so I’m finding it’s a bit of a physical challenge to do everything I want to do."

Promotional materials for the album cite a direct link between Krall’s domestic developments and the upbeat arrangements of standards such as "From This Moment On." On the phone, however, Krall says it’s more a case of trying something new. "What am I going to do, just do the same thing all over again?"

The Canadian-born Krall grew up playing piano under the influence of her father, a stride jazz pianist. But the great vocalists were part of the home record mix as well. "I started learning Bing Crosby tunes when I was 14, which is the reason I’m so screwed up," she says with a laugh. "I just wanted to try it on, and be inspired by that."

The only stumbling block is that Krall’s low-toned, smoky voice has been best used in delicate piano-based arrangements, cozying up to those done-me-wrong ballads of the empty Scotch glass, quarter-to-three variety.

What’s the diplomatic way to ask Krall if singing up to the larger sound was a challenge? After a fumbling attempt, she was quick to the rescue: "So, (you’re saying) I’m not a belter?" she offered with a laugh. "I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way," she added, quoting Jessica Rabbit. "It’s just the way it is. I just don’t think about it too much."

But, when prodded, it appears she does. She explained her approach to the happy arrangement of "Day In, Day Out," which reins in the band, saving the brassy flares as a sort of punctuation mark to her vocals.

"If you want to get, like, geeky and analytical, I had to work really hard at pulling back and singing very up-close onto the mic like I always do, and not saying, ‘OK, now I gotta sing something a different way.’

"You just have to be yourself. Just because you’ve got more doesn’t mean you have to sing more," she added. "I made a conscious effort to go, ‘OK, I’m not gonna try to blow it out of the water. I’ve just got to be very, very subtle.’ "

It helps that Krall has worked with band arranger John Clayton since her first album, "Stepping Out," in 1993. "I was very careful that I didn’t want to have just a pickup band," she says. "I wanted to have a band that had a complete personality. John writes for the specific players in his band, like Count Basie used to.

"It doesn’t sound like a studio-perfect kind of sound" as a recording with session players might. "It’s got real character."

She is happy with the end product. "I figured it out. That’s why I say I’m still learning and trying to grow and be inspired and keep moving. Look who I live with, you know?"

Unlike her husband’s brave album foray with Burt Bacharach, Krall says there are songs she won’t touch because they aren’t in her vocal range. But she found it surprisingly easy to do another standards album after venturing into songwriting with Costello for "The Girl in the Other Room" in 2004.

"I spent my whole life interpreting standards, and it was really good to write," she says of the effort. "It was at a time where I literally could not do anything else. That was the only thing I wanted to do."

Going back to the standards, "I thought maybe I’ve sung everything." But it was easy to come up with a list of 35 potential songs for producer Tommy LiPuma. "Those standards have been pulled apart and put together again by so many different artists, and they’re still interesting."

Krall isn’t protective of the terrain when guys such as Rod Stewart decide to record the classics. "Maybe people are sick of standards because so many people are doing them. (But) that’s kind of like saying people are sick of comedy. If it’s done well, why would you be sick of them?"

She likes Michael Bublé and says "the person who made me feel like there’s some other person out there besides myself, who loves to play the piano and sing standards, was Harry Connick.

"When I saw ‘When Harry Met Sally’ (for which Connick did the soundtrack in 1989) I said, ‘I want to do that too. I am doing that. But nobody knows it.’ "