Diana Krall, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

ELEGANT, beautiful, classy and a stunning sound. The Bridgewater Hall and Diana Krall were made for each other.

The American is gaining a growing reputation for giving fresh appeal to jazz and classic standards. And it is not hard to see why.

She not only has a stunning voice but she looks the part too.

For two hours you could hear a pin drop as a full house sat in respectful and admiring silence as she recreated the spirit of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee and a host of others before the four stunningly designed tiers erupted in a standing ovation at the end.

Brilliantly accompanied by a three piece backing band on drums, guitar and bass with herself equally adept on piano, she looked every inch the superstar playing a type of music that stopped breeding superstars many decades ago.

Cool and mellow the best way of listening to Diana Krall would undoubtedly be sprawled out on a chaise longue sipping a scotch on the rocks.

She did Cole Porter justice with 'I've Got You Under My Skin', her rendition of Bacharach and David's 'The Look of Love' was stunning as were others like 'Fly Me To The Moon' and Cry Me A River'.

But to think she is merely paying homage to her heroes of yesterday is to miss the point.

She is a star in her own right and it is testament to her quality that she not only sings the same songs as her heroes but she sings as well as them.

She bridges a lot of divides. Like Robbie Williams put swing into the 21st century, she puts jazz and the old standards into the 21st century - but she does it for real.

She is a student of her genre and her love for it shines through in her voice.

She also managed to make jazz sexy - and it takes someone special to do that! Neil Bonnar