Diana Krall kicks off Mission Hill Winery's summer concert series in style

Friday at 7:36 pm, Diana Krall strode onto the stage looking uber-cool in a long boho dress and sunglasses with her blonde hair loose.

She settled in at the Steinway & Sons piano, commented on the beautiful evening and then got right to it.

The Grammy-winning jazz singer and pianist played 15 songs, non-stop, spanning her biggest hits from Let's Fall in Love, I've Got You Under My Skin and Devil May Care to This Can't Be Love, East of the Sun (and West of the Moon) and 'S Wonderful.

One hit, some would say Krall's signature song -- The Look of Love -- was absent.

Even after her encore of 'S Wonderful, which, as the title states, is wonderful, some fans in the sold-out crowd of 900 shouted 'The Look of Love.'

But it was not to be.

Krall took a bow with her band -- bassist John Clayton Jr., drummer Jeff Hamilton and guitarist Anthony Hamilton -- and exited the stage at 9:04 pm, looking as cool as when she arrived.

By the way, 'S Wonderful was still an inspired encore.

She prefaced the song with the tidbit that she'd recently spoken with Tony Bennett and he says 'hi.'

It was an apropos quip considering 'S Wonderful is a famous Tony Bennett-Krall duet recording and Bennett himself played the Mission Hill amphitheatre in 2014.

Krall was the kick-off concert of a five-show summer series at the 900-seat outdoor amphitheatre at Mission Hill Winery in West Kelowna.

The setting is truly spectacular -- seats spill up the grassed slope and the stage at the bottom is backed by views over vineyards to Okanagan Lake and the mountains.

It's why Krall made her 'beautiful evening' comment -- that and the fact the rain earlier in the day did not turn into the thunderstorm that was forecasted.

Besides some other talk about the music, such as who composed what and who first recorded that, Krall kept her interaction with the crowd to a minimum.

She played the piano flawlessly, sang in her crystal-clear, husky, breathy contralto and let the guys in the band riff.

She made no reference to being in Kelowna or that she's a BC girl herself, hailing from Nanaimo.

She also didn't mention she'd just come off a tour of Europe and a stop at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Or that the current tour goes to Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Washington state tomorrow night before continuing through the US, taking a break, and then heading to Mexico, Chile and Argentina in the fall.

The four upcoming concerts in the Mission Hill series are Dean Brody (Bring Down the House and Canadian Summer) on Monday, July 17; Lyle Lovett (Cowboy Man and She's No Lady) on Tuesday, July 18; Colin James (Five Long Years and Just Came Back) on Tuesday, Aug. 8; and Sarah McLachlan (Angel and Ice Cream) on Monday, Aug. 21.

McLachlan's show is already sold out.

But there are still tickets available for the Brody, Lovett and James concerts.

Tickets are $320 at www.missionhillwinery.com/events-calendar.

Yes, the price is steep, a reflection that these are big-name concerts in a unparalleled setting and includes some wine.