For Diana Krall, "Quiet Time" is a Rare Thing

Of course, Krall's husband, Elvis Costello, and their twin sons, Dexter and Frank, who turned 2 in December, do not go unmentioned. Her three guys are central to the newfound contentment that informs Nights, a collection of jazz and pop standards including several bossa nova favorites. Though Krall's alto has always been a model of sultry understatement, she brings a particular sense of intimacy and ease to these songs.

“I'm just really happy," says Krall, 44. “I didn't have just (music) to focus on; I always looked forward to the end of the day, when I saw my kids. So the whole process was a joyful one, very natural, not at all self-conscious."

Krall wed Costello in 2003, a year after her mom succumbed to cancer. “Losing my mother was so devastating, and getting married and having my own family were important." Parenthood came naturally: “I'm such a big kid myself. I'm a great meal planner; I get up and make pancakes and we all sit and talk. They love certain films and books; now they're discovering dinosaurs. They're just the most delightful beings."

Krall allows, “I still get frustrated and challenged as an artist. But I'm not in a place where I'm singing all about loss."

Not that Nights, which entered the Billboard 200 at No. 3 this week, is without moodiness. Much of the material is bittersweet, and tracks such as a haunting, minor-chord-inflected Walk on By show an affinity for darker nuance. Krall enlisted the revered arranger Claus Ogerman, who also contributed to her 2001 album, The Look of Love. Best known for his work with bossa nova legend Antonio Carlos Jobim, Ogerman “thinks cinematically, which I do, too. He has this melancholy film-noir thing that I love."

Krall also credits her band and co-producer Tommy LiPuma, longtime collaborators whom she considers “like a family." The skills she has sharpened working with LiPuma came in handy recently when Krall was tapped to produce an album for another high-profile artist: Barbra Streisand.

“This is someone who has done everything," Krall says. “So being in the producer's chair, I really had to make sure that I could give her something a little different." Krall describes the resulting disc, expected later this year, as “a really honest, beautiful record, with a very organic feel. There's one song with just a piano and her voice that is absolutely stunning."

Streisand and Krall also bonded “as two women working together. She loves architecture and design, and we'd talk about that, and about our experiences. We were girly-girls, too, talking about clothes, telling funny stories. And we played cards! So if there was ever a technical problem, we'd break out a deck and play hands of rummy."

On Krall's upcoming tour she'll perform dates in Canada before launching the U.S. leg June 5 in Waterbury, Conn. she'll be playing games favored by Frank and Dexter. “I'm a stay-at-home mom as much as I can be," Krall says, so when she travels, the tots often join her. “They started touring at 6 months old and were on a bus through Europe last summer."

When not with Krall, the boys are with their father, or occasionally with Krall's sister, Michelle, and her husband. “It's torture to leave them, but I know they're with Elvis."

Jazz singer Diana Krall's new album, Quiet Nights, is in stores now.