Album: Come Away With Me
Artist: Norah Jones
Born: Grapevine, Texas
Released: February 2002
Artist: Norah Jones
Born: Grapevine, Texas
Released: February 2002
Genre: Jazz Pop
To my mind, Come Away With Me is almost the perfect Sunday morning record. In our house, it competes for that title with James Taylor's JT and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. On the flip side, the fact it's so mellow and unchallenging means that it's sometimes easy to forget it's actually on, while it's clearly not a record that will win any plaudits for experimentation or originality. I've no doubt it's been played at many a dinner party and in many doctor's waiting rooms, but I'll not let that lack of cool get in the way of appreciating what's a brilliant singing performance. As with my love of Simon & Garfunkel, I do think it's important to make room in your life for music that soothes and consoles. Although Jones is not exactly a jazz singer, she still has a style that is deeply influenced by Billie Holiday, and the contribution of several talented jazz musicians on the record gives Come Away With Me a predominantly jazz flavour, but mixed with elements of folk, country and pop. The album's accomplished feel is largely due to the input of producer Arif Mardin, an industry veteran who had worked with the Bee Gees (notably Jive Talkin' on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack), Chaka Khan, Scritti Politti and Willie Nelson, among many others.
Don't Know Why is the opening track and one of the standout songs on the record, released as a single in the UK with a B-side cover of Bob Dylan's I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. Written by singer-songwriter Jesse Harris, who plays guitar on the record, it sounds like it was written from a woman's perspective ("My heart is drenched in wine"), but the reason it sounds like her own song is no doubt because Jones' performance is so assured. In fact, Jones only wrote the title track and a few other songs on the LP, most notably the lovely Nightingale. Harris and Jones were friends from university and started their own band in New York, and were later joined by bass guitarist Lee Alexander, who also contributes several songs on the album. Apart from Don't Know Why and the title track, two of my favourite songs are covers: Hank Williams' Cold, Cold Heart and John Loudermilk's Turn Me On. Come Away With Me quickly became a huge success, selling over 20mn copies, and was lavished with awards. Although more pop success followed, thanks to collaborations with Dolly Parton and Ray Charles, in more recent years Jones has instead been in search of artistic credibility, working with Danger Mouse, Q-Tip, OutKast, Belle & Sebastian, Ryan Adams and others, in a bid to be remembered as much more than Ravi Shankar's daughter.
To my mind, Come Away With Me is almost the perfect Sunday morning record. In our house, it competes for that title with James Taylor's JT and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. On the flip side, the fact it's so mellow and unchallenging means that it's sometimes easy to forget it's actually on, while it's clearly not a record that will win any plaudits for experimentation or originality. I've no doubt it's been played at many a dinner party and in many doctor's waiting rooms, but I'll not let that lack of cool get in the way of appreciating what's a brilliant singing performance. As with my love of Simon & Garfunkel, I do think it's important to make room in your life for music that soothes and consoles. Although Jones is not exactly a jazz singer, she still has a style that is deeply influenced by Billie Holiday, and the contribution of several talented jazz musicians on the record gives Come Away With Me a predominantly jazz flavour, but mixed with elements of folk, country and pop. The album's accomplished feel is largely due to the input of producer Arif Mardin, an industry veteran who had worked with the Bee Gees (notably Jive Talkin' on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack), Chaka Khan, Scritti Politti and Willie Nelson, among many others.
Don't Know Why is the opening track and one of the standout songs on the record, released as a single in the UK with a B-side cover of Bob Dylan's I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. Written by singer-songwriter Jesse Harris, who plays guitar on the record, it sounds like it was written from a woman's perspective ("My heart is drenched in wine"), but the reason it sounds like her own song is no doubt because Jones' performance is so assured. In fact, Jones only wrote the title track and a few other songs on the LP, most notably the lovely Nightingale. Harris and Jones were friends from university and started their own band in New York, and were later joined by bass guitarist Lee Alexander, who also contributes several songs on the album. Apart from Don't Know Why and the title track, two of my favourite songs are covers: Hank Williams' Cold, Cold Heart and John Loudermilk's Turn Me On. Come Away With Me quickly became a huge success, selling over 20mn copies, and was lavished with awards. Although more pop success followed, thanks to collaborations with Dolly Parton and Ray Charles, in more recent years Jones has instead been in search of artistic credibility, working with Danger Mouse, Q-Tip, OutKast, Belle & Sebastian, Ryan Adams and others, in a bid to be remembered as much more than Ravi Shankar's daughter.
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