Genius can sometimes mean crazy.

Diana Krall’s show last night at Place des Arts was what most people did not expect. Krall ain’t Shania Twain and because of Diana’s mainstream success – a lot of people are brainwashed into thinking it will be one hit after another done in a Pop way.

Diana Krall is Jazz and within Jazz lies a lot of eccentricities.

Not just in the music but inside Jazz people’s heads. All the thoughts and nuances turning inside Krall’s head have no time for the masquerade which is a live Pop or even a Rock concert.

Krall’s show was a Jazz show. Bass, drums, guitar and piano.

Krall’s focus was on accompanying her trio on keys and sometimes vocals. The ‘MTV video’ portion of her fame was placed securely in the trunk of her polished Jazz vehicle.

Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Irvin Berlin – all the masters were covered with the proper amount of precision to be authentic and enough creativity to call the versions new for one night.

Leonard Cohen’s Famous Blue Raincoat was covered with Krall forgetting the words. Apologies were immediately given to Cohen and the audience. Krall’s intentions are refreshingly human and not choreographed. Her banter between songs? Something she must do – that does not mean she is good at it. Drivers are not all mechanics.

Artists such as Krall are adored, rich and famous because of their art. Some artists are talkative, some are shy. Some love to move around – some sit still. Somewhere along the line of an artist’s career – audiences start to believe because they buy tickets to see the artists – the artist should do precisely what the audience wants or expects. Krall and her friends did what they wanted to do in a pure Jazz format. Concentration was on the music. Krall and her band put the 100,000 hours into practicing not the audience.