The album's title comes from the English-language title of the bossa nova standard "Corcovado", written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and first made popular in the early 1960s. The title track is one of three selections written or co-written by Jobim. Krall had previously included the Jobim-penned "How Insensitive" ("Insensatez") on her 2006 release From This Moment On, and performed Jobim's "The Girl from Ipanema" (retitled "The Boy from Ipanema") with Rosemary Clooney on the latter's 2000 album Brazil.
Quiet Nights received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 74, based on 12 reviews.[3]
Jon Caramanica of The New York Times wrote, "The sound and style are the same as for The Look of Love, with Claus Ogerman's billowing strings and woodwinds conjuring a romantic atmosphere with film-noir overtones. Ms. Krall's supple keyboard solos trickle in and out of the orchestration like pianistic pillow talk. She has lowered her voice to a husky near-murmur, as though she were luxuriating in the afterglow of passion on tangled sheets. The forerunners for this excursion into soft-focus eroticism are the ballad albums of Peggy Lee and Julie London".[13]
Steve Greelee of The Boston Globe noted, "The line between dreamy and sleepy is a fine one, and many jazz singers have fallen on the wrong side of it when attempting bossa nova. Diana Krall, however, negotiates it skillfully on Quiet Nights, her first album of all bossas. It probably has a lot to do with her honeyed voice, her laid-back delivery, and her experience – she has 11 albums and 15 years of recording under her belt".[14]
Commercial performanceedit
Quiet Nights debuted at number three on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 24,000 copies in its first week.[15] Five weeks later, the album peaked at number two with 11,000 units sold.[16] In the United States, it sold 104,000 copies to debut at number three on the Billboard 200 and at number one on the Top Jazz Albums, becoming Krall's ninth number-one album on the latter chart.[17]
In mainland Europe, the album reached the top spot in Hungary, Poland, and Portugal, and charted inside the top five in Austria, France, Greece, Norway, and Spain, as well as on the European Top 100 Albums chart. It also debuted on the New Zealand RIANZ chart at number two. In late 2009, Billboard ranked Quiet Nights at number 25 on the Top Jazz Albums decade-end chart of the 2000s.[18]
Tracks 1–7 on the deluxe edition bonus DVD were recorded live at ORCAM's auditorium in Madrid, Spain, on May 29, 2009; track 8 is taken from Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...
Personneledit
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Quiet Nights.[21]
Eun Mee Ahn, Charlie Bisharat, Caroline Campbell, Darius Campo, Mario de Leon, Yue Deng, Bruce Dukov (concertmaster), David Ewart, Alan Grunfeld, Tammy Hatwan, Peter Kent, Razdan Kuyumjian, Liane Mautner, Helen Nightengale, Sid Page (concertmaster), Joel Pargman, Katia Popov, Barbara Porter, Gil Romero, Tereza Stanislav, Mari Tsumura, Josephina Vergara, Amy Wickman, Tiffany Yi Hu – violins
Thomas Dienner, Marlo Fisher, Matt Funes, Janet Lakatos, Vicki Miskolczy, Dan Neufeld, Kate Reddish, Todd Marda, David Walther, Evan Wilson – violas
Larry Corbett (first), Antony Cooke, Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, Trevor Handy, Timothy Landauer, Steve Richards, Dan Smith, Rudy Stein, Cecilia Tsan – celli
Nico Carmine Abondolo, Drew Dembowski, Reggie Hamilton, Ed Meares (first), Sue Ranney – basses
^Barton, Chris (March 30, 2009). "Album review: Diana Krall's 'Quiet Nights'". Los Angeles Times.
^"Jazz review: Diana Krall, Quiet Nights". The Observer. May 17, 2009.
^Drozdowski, Ted (March 23, 2009). "Diana Krall | Quiet Nights". The Phoenix. Archived from the original on March 27, 2009.
^Layman, Will (April 23, 2009). "Diana Krall: Quiet Nights". PopMatters. Archived from the original on June 5, 2009.
^Waring, Charles (May 24, 2009). "Quiet Nights | Diana Krall". Record Collector. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
^Infantry, Ashante (March 31, 2009). "Quiet Nights: Diana Krall". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
^Caramanica, Joe (March 29, 2009). "Diana Krall: "Quiet Nights" (Verve)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 24, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
^Greenlee, Steve (March 30, 2009). "Diana Krall, 'Quiet Nights'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
^Williams, John (April 8, 2009). "'Academie,' Krall make big debuts". Jam!. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^Williams, John (May 13, 2013). "Krall makes big move on charts". Jam!. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^Caulfield, Keith (April 8, 2009). "Keith Urban Soars To No. 1 On Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
^ ab"Jazz Albums: Decade End Chart (2000s)". Billboard. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
^"Quiet Nights (Bonus Track Version) by Diana Krall". iTunes Store. United States. Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
^"ARIA Jazz & Blues Albums – Week Commencing 6th April 2009" (PDF). The ARIA Report (997): 21. April 6, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Austriancharts.at – Diana Krall – Quiet Nights" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^"Ultratop.be – Diana Krall – Quiet Nights" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^"Ultratop.be – Diana Krall – Quiet Nights" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^"Diana Krall Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^"Top Kombiniranih – Tjedan 16. 2009" [Top Combined – Week 16, 2009] (in Croatian). Top of the Shops. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 16.Týden 2009 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^"Offiziellecharts.de – Diana Krall – Quiet Nights" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^Top 50 Ελληνικών και Ξένων Αλμπουμ – Εβδομάδα 17/2009 [Top 50 Greek and Foreign Albums – Week 17/2009] (in Greek). IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on May 20, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
^"Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2009. 15. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^"Official Jazz & Blues Albums Chart Top 30". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
^"Diana Krall Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^"Diana Krall Chart History (Top Jazz Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^"Diana Krall Chart History (Traditional Jazz Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
^"ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 50 Jazz & Blues Albums 2009". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on April 15, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^"Rapports Annuels 2009 – Albums" (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^"Year End Charts – Top Canadian Albums". Billboard. 2009. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^"Year End Charts – European Top 100 Albums". Billboard. 2009. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^"Összesített album- és válogatáslemez-lista – eladási darabszám alapján – 2009" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
^"Top 100 – annual chart: 2009" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^"Year End Charts – Top Billboard 200". Billboard. 2009. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
^"Jazz Albums – Year-End 2009". Billboard. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
^"ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 50 Jazz & Blues Albums 2010". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on April 15, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
^"Jazz Albums – Year-End 2010". Billboard. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
^"Portuguese album certifications – Diana Krall – Quiet Nights" (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Archived from the original on March 4, 2010.
^"Spanish album certifications" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved November 19, 2021. Select Álbumes under "Categoría", select 2009 under "Año". Select 39 under "Semana". Click on "BUSCAR LISTA".