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Live Review
by Klam Meraffe
14-2-2002
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| Norah Jones’s ‘Come Away With Me’ |
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Live: Norah Jones
CC Club, London
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
One to watch with great pleasure, after this debut
Norah Jones is signed to Blue Note but her debut album, ‘Come Away With Me’, is not strictly jazz. This songbird is blessed with vocal chords that can handle any musical genre, from blues to pop to country, and then melt ice in your bourbon. The New York-born, Texas-raised, jazz-piano trained (at the same school as Erikah Badu), likes to operate in that area of music that is the domain of Diana Krall and Patricia Kaas and, occasionally, Ute Lemper.
Songs that are full of emotional ballast, stories of loves lost and found, life itself, sung beautifully and with such clarity a bird would be jealous if it had emotions. The 22-year-old Ms Jones has been performing for 6 years and it appears at such ease to even tell a joke* at her showcase, backed by her regular three-piece.
Norah Jones is a performer whose takes on Hank Williams’s ‘Cold Cold Heart’, Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘The Nearness Of You’ or Billie Holiday’s favourite ‘I’ve Got To See You Again’, are quite a revelation. Jones’s own songs, such as ‘Nightingale’ and the title track, sound on par with the great standards she covers.
‘Come Away With Me’ blends elements of jazz, soul, country, and folk-pop in a warm, unselfcon-scious amalgam and erases musical boundaries in the process. One could imagine fans of Shelby Lynne, Kathryn Wlliams, Shivaree, Sade, Charlie Rich, and Nick Drake all deriving equal enjoyment from this record, remarks her record company.
Italians would call this Bella cante and it is really the best description. The lady sings… all!
*
Norah Jones’s joke:
How to get a duck soup?
Put one in a microwave and wait until its Bill Withers.
{We apologise to the RSPCA and assure everyone that no ducks were hurt in the thinking process. (Not sure about the microwave but there is no Society for The Prevention ff Cruelty to Technology, is there?)}
Klam Meraffe
14-2-2002
Norah Jones’s album ‘Come Away With Me’ is available now on Blue Note/EMI
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