 Sultry vocalist and pianist
Norah Jones developed her unique blend of jazz and traditional vocal pop
with hints of bluesy country and contemporary folk due in large part to
her unique upbringing. Born March 30, 1979, in New York City, the daughter of
Ravi Shankar quietly grew up in Texas with her mother. While she always
found the music of
Billie Holiday and
Bill Evans both intriguing and comforting, she didn't really explore jazz
until attending Dallas' Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and
Visual Arts. During high school,
Norah Jones won the Down Beat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist and Best
Original Composition in 1996, and earned a second Best Jazz Vocalist award in
1997. Putting her vocal talents on the back burner,
Norah Jones worked toward earning a degree in jazz piano at the University of
North Texas for two years before accepting a friend's offer of a summer sublet
in Greenwich Village during the summer of 1999. Although she fully intended to
return to college that fall, the lure of the folk coffeehouses and jazz clubs
proved too strong and she soon became inspired to write her own songs.
Norah Jones appeared regularly with the trip-hop-electronica band
Wax Poetic and assembled her own group around songwriters
Jesse Harris (guitar) and Lee Alexander (bass), with Dan Rieser on drums.
In October of 2000, the group recorded a handful of demos for Blue Note
Records and on the strength of these recordings,
Norah Jones signed to the jazz label in early 2001. Following an appearance on
Charlie Hunter's Songs from the Analog Playground,
Norah Jones spent much of 2001 performing live with
Hunter's group and working on material for her debut. Come Away with Me,
recorded by
Craig Street (Cassandra
Wilson,
Manhattan Transfer,
k.d. lang) and legendary producer
Arif Mardin (Aretha
Franklin,
Dusty Springfield,
the Bee Gees), was released in early 2002 and garnered much public
attention. The combination of her striking beauty and the fact that she was the
daughter of an internationally renowned musician placed
Norah Jones in the awkward position of defending her music from those who
dismissed her as another pretty face (the same argument used by those opposed to
Diana Krall) and/or another riding the coattails of her musical royal
heritage (see
Natalie Cole,
Miki Coltrane,
Corey Parker). Although not by any stretch a "jazz" album (the label chose
to call it "jazz-informed"), it featured jazz guitarist
Bill Frisell and session drummer
Brian Blade, and indicated a new direction for Blue Note combining jazz
aesthetics and talent with a pop sensibility. Come Away with Me eventually went
multi-platinum, selling 18 million copies worldwide and winning
Norah Jones eight Grammy awards.
In 2004,
Norah Jones released her highly anticipated follow-up album, Feels Like Home.
Pairing once again with producer
Arif Mardin,
Norah Jones pursued a similar approach to Come Away with Me, mixing '70s
singer/songwriter-style tracks with blues, country, and her own mellow take on
piano jazz. In 2003,
Norah Jones played in a group called
the Little Willies along with Lee Alexander (bass),
Richard Julian (guitar/vocals), Dan Rieser (drums), and
Jim Campilongo (guitar), playing covers of classic American music like
Hank Williams,
Willie Nelson, and
Kris Kristofferson. This one-off performance ultimately turned into sporadic
shows at the venue whenever their individual schedules would allow, slowly
incorporating original songs into their set along the way. In time,
the Little Willies began considering the release of a live album, but
instead wound up documenting their sound in the recording studio. Milking Bull
Records issued the resultant self-titled album in March 2006. ~ Zac Johnson, All
Music Guide
Contact Grabow for more information or to book
Norah Jones for your next corporate or private event.
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