Reviews
 Keep It Simple
Van Morrison
Roger McGuinn @ the Huntington IMAC, Long Island, NY - April 4, 2008
Emily Saxe @ the Allen Room/Jazz at Lincoln Center - April 5, 2008
Another Country
Tift Merritt
Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward
Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years (DVD)
Juno – Music from the Motion Picture
Various Artists
Yes - Their Definitive Story
Day and Night Driving
Seven Mary Three
InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY
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Norah Jones
What a gorgeous album this is. On her debut album, Norah Jones occupies turf that has been abandoned by today’s over-qualified, over-wrought, and over-the-top divas. She sings each song with an extraordinarily sensuous flow and a subtle passion that is downright seductive. Most of Come Away With Me consists of material written by Jones, bassist Lee Alexander or guitarist Jesse Harris. Although they usually wrote separate from one another, their styles synchronize perfectly, giving the album a unified, consistent feel. Harris or Alexander supply nine of the CD’s fourteen songs, suggesting an album that is much more the product of a musical collaboration – a band – than a solo artist with musical support.
As sympathetic as her songwriters are, though, the musicians are intelligent enough to keep all focus on the languid passion of Jones’ voice. The album is consistently excellent, but three tracks stand out; “Come Away With Me” (written by Jones), “I’ve Got to See You Again” (written by Harris) and a cover of J.D. Loudermilk’s “Turn Me On” are all emotionally direct and subdued, sultry and almost erotic in their gentle intensity. Two other ‘cover’ songs are here, and each is a revelation in the art of interpretation. More than enough people have already recorded “Cold, Cold Heart” over the years, so I didn’t expect anything quite so enlightening as this thoroughly unique version. I mean, nobody sings Hank Williams better than Hank Williams (with all due respect to Tony Bennett, and especially to Ray Charles, who, come to think of it, might disprove my comment, actually…), but Jones’ recording rates up there with the best of them. Her interpretation of Hoagy Carmichael’s “The Nearness of You” is just as exquisite, bringing a fresh voice to a song that has been near-abused by the various song stylists who attempted it.
There’s more than a touch of Billie Holliday to Norah Jones, not to say that she is a copyist. It’s just that so few singers are capable of conveying so much of their personality and their sensuality, and Jones seems to do it effortlessly. Each song on this disk conveys a simple grace that can only be obtained by somebody with extraordinary talent and tremendous personal conviction. Come Away With Me resounds with a profundity that comes from the sound of a soul resonating in God’s own language.
Grade: 
 
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