Diana Krall promises Hong Kong she’ll stay true to original spirit of pop classics at concert

Diana Krall’s current touring banner is the “Wallflower World Tour”, titled after her latest album, but her concert at AsiaWorld-Arena on January 24 will present a much more varied programme than that suggests.

“Even though it’s the Wallflower tour, we’re playing all sorts of songs from my entire catalogue – everything from Nat King Cole to Peggy Lee to The Band to jazz songs to Wallflower songs,” she says over the phone from New York.

“It’s a really amazing band, so we’re kind of mixing it up. It’s an interesting show.”

It has been a little more than seven years since she last appeared here – “too long ago”, she says – during which time she has released three studio albums of her own, as well as branching out as a producer for Barbra Streisand on her 2009 Love is the Answer album. She also led the band on Paul McCartney’s 2012 CD Kisses on the Bottom.

Of the Streisand project, which went to No 1 on the Billboard albums chart, she says it was “an unbelievable experience”, but one that left her in no doubt that she belonged on a piano stool rather than in the producer’s chair.

“I prefer being in the piano/band leader/arranger role. I loved it and I felt very happy, but of course you are also looking at Paul McCartney, and how fun is that? Looking back I sometimes can’t believe I got to do that, and working with him and Tommy [LiPuma, who produced the record] we had such a good time. Those things don’t come along very often, so I’m grateful for that,” she says.