There's a mystery about Diana Krall that makes you believe she was born to be music royalty. She'll take the stage Thursday and next Friday with Matt Catingub and the Honolulu Symphony Pops at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, and you'll see it instantly.

It's not just her sultry voice, videos and album covers — all thoroughly capturing her sex appeal and sensuality.

Krall sells dreams, a make-believe, melt-in-my-arms world where you can close your eyes and imagine, and everyone and everything is perfect.

But I digress. She's also a woman not afraid to let her hair down every now and again. Maybe the best example of that came after her 2005 performance with the orchestra.

Following her pops performance, she joined Catingub and some of the musicians at the Lewers Lounge, then the after-performance hangout where they would share a few drinks, talk story and listen to Bruce Hamada and Jim Howard perform.

"Diana enjoyed it so much after the first time she played here (in 2001) that she wanted to sit in with them the next time she came," said Catingub, who will be celebrating his 10th anniversary at the Honolulu Symphony with the Krall shows. "The problem was, every musician in Honolulu found out about her plan and brought their instruments to Lewers that night. It was a like a cattle call, everyone wanting to play with her."

Catingub counts Krall's performances — including the impromptu jam session at Lewers — among the highlights he's had playing with the Honolulu Symphony over the past decade.

He gave his impromptu highlight list late last week minutes before stepping on stage in Orange County, Calif., to conduct a pops concert with Kenny Loggins, ironically, the first major guest he played with here.

"Ten years later, and here I am ready to go on again with Kenny," Catingub said with a chuckle. "We've been lucky in Honolulu to be able to forge relationships with great artists.

"With Diana, we got her the first time just before her career began to skyrocket. Her CD ("When I Look In Your Eyes") was just nominated for a Grammy. Now she comes back simply because she loves Hawai'i. She loves playing with a 65-piece symphony, and she loves staying at the Halekulani. She is one of my all-time favorites."

Next week's concerts — and a solo performance Sunday at Maui Arts & Cultural Center Castle Theater — are the lone U.S. stops on Krall's "Quiet Nights" tour. The rest of her appearances will be in her homeland, Canada. "Quiet Nights" will be her 12th CD and is scheduled to be released at the end of this month.

Krall's life is part storybook, part tragedy. The storybook part is her meteoric rise in the jazz world, where "When I Look In Your Eyes," won a Grammy for best jazz vocal and was also the first jazz CD in 25 years to be nominated for album of the year in 2002.

But also in 2002, the 44-year-old Krall lost her mother to multiple myeloma, leukemia, and she has since devoted her time to fighting the cancer. Last month, she raised $2 million for the cause at a charity concert in Vancouver, B.C.

The list of performers at the charity event reads like a who's who of music: Krall, husband Elvis Costello, Elton John, James Taylor and Sarah McLachlan.

Elton John is so close to Costello and Krall that the couple wed on his estate Dec. 6, 2003. Three years later, on their wedding anniversary, Krall gave birth to twins Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James.

"It would be great if Elvis shows up with Diana, but I think if he does, he'll be in the audience listening like the rest of us," said Catingub, who also performed with Costello in 2006.

Krall is definitely the main attraction at this week's pop performances, but Catingub's tenure is also being celebrated. Local favorites Henry Kapono, Jimmy Borges and Amy Hanaiali'i will also perform Thursday, and Catingub said others may be making surprise appearances, too.

We asked Catingub for a few highlights outside of working with Krall and Costellot:

• A huge fan of The Beatles, he completed a bucket-list item in 2007 when the Symphony Pops performed "Tribute to The Beatles: 40th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." "We did every song on the album," he said. "I'll always remember that."

• In 2003, he discovered a passion for improvising. "I have to admit I like it when things go a little wrong," he said. In this case, a power failure occurred during Jim Nabor's annual "A Merry Christmas with Friends and Nabors" show. "It could have been disastrous, but Jim came out and did a standup routine in the dark for 20 minutes," Catingub said. "It was hilarious, and it was something the crowd there that night will always remember."

• A favorite task is listening to a guest artist's style, then writing a pops tune to perform together. "You're talking about 65 of the best musicians in the world, and most performers aren't used to sitting in with a section like that," Catingub said. "So even the performers who are supposed to come with baggage usually don't. We've had great experiences with 99 percent of the stars who've passed through here. We get about 2 1/2 hours to rehearse with them, and then we perform."

• Performing with Toto in 2004. "That was the band I grew up with, so to get them here for the Pops series was incredible," Catingub said.

It should be noted that much of Catingub's time with the orchestra has been as a dual resident: He's now flying back and forth between his California home and O'ahu for performances, just as he had for his first five years here.

"I moved back to Los Angeles because of family issues," Catingub said. "I have no idea how many miles I've flown between here and there, but I know that on American Airlines, I'm a Double Million Mile Member. I've logged 2.3 million miles on that airline, not all just to and from Hawai'i. It's been a great 10 years."