Half Okie/Texan, half Indian (her dad’s Ravi Shankar), and a stone-cold babe. Not to mention she’s got (to borrow a phrase from a fellow doper) a hell of a set of…pipes.
So, I’ve been hearing the buzz–NPR, CNN, NYT, internet jazz geeks, and I finally get a copy today. Damn, she ain’t half bad. She takes a smoky-cocktail-lounge approach to a wide array of styles and material, and pulls it off. Imagine Hank Williams Sr.'s “Cold Cold Heart” sung by, say Diana Krall or Jeannie Bryson. Vocally, she has a throatiness that reminds me of a young Eartha Kitt, along with a western (Texas/Oklahoma) accent and phrasing that adds to the ambience, and again reminds me of Eartha Kitt in its difference from the usual.
I just hope she doesn’t get as commercial as Krall did, or disappear from the critics like Jane Monheit.
Fourteen hours, 14 views, and no replies. Stofsky, you’ve got me feelin’ sorry for ya. You want I should change your thread title to Raven-Haired Chesty Long-Legged New Chanteuse from Brooklyn?
I’ve seen the feature articles ion Miz Jones in various periodicals, and I’m curious myself, but I haven’t yet heard any of her singing.
And the other morning, WBGO played a cut from the new Cassandra Wilson disc, and she did a GREAT job with The Band’s classic “The Weight” (with a slide guitar and congas included in her back-up band), so THAT might be my next female-vocalist purchase.
Nora JONES? Feh. Now, Nora BAYES—she was a singer! You must get a CD of her doing “Lovin’ Sam, the Sheik of Alabam,” “Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?” and “Sally Greene, the Village Vamp.”
They didn’t call her The Empress of Vaudeville for nothin’!
Go for it. Maybe people will take some interest in some good pop/jazz. I listened to the CD a couple of more times after I posted, and I find her use of country piano licks in a cocktail setting very interesting and somehow apropos. Sometimes it’s like Floyd Cramer did an album with Billie Holliday.
Nora Jones is going to be the cover story for JAZZIZ Magazine in June or July, I think. It’s a national jazz oriented mag targeted at consumers and is, coincidentally, the magazine that I work for. My editor has been raving about her for months now, ever since we did a short piece about her a while back, but I haven’t listened to her CD yet, as his taste is somewhat suspect. But now that I’ve seen some more recommendations from you guys, I’ll give a listen. And I’ll get my copy of the CD for free! HA!
And good call on the thread title, Uke. Sex sells! Although, to be honest, at first I read it as her having a hairy chest.
NO I DID NOT, and thanks for rubbing it in…god damn USPS.
I COULDA just walked down to the corner and bought the god damn thing at th’ store, but noooooooo…I had to be all clever and avoid the ninety-two cents of sales tax.
Yeah, and I think I paid all of 9 bucks here in the sticks. Lemme know what you think when you hear it. I sent my dad the URL for the clips, and he said he wasn’t impressed, though he liked that dead chick from DC whose name I can’t recall. I’m counting on some support here from the musicarati on the board.
First off, thank you very kindly for this thread stofsky. I listened to a few of those clips this morning and picked up a copy of the CD on my way home tonight. I’m loving it.
Norah has one of the most haunting voices I’ve heard in a long time and while the way it’s used on this album may be a bit understated by my tastes, the wealth of nuance and inflection snags my soul like a fish hook. I will defiantly be looking forward to subsequent releases and any local concert dates.
Intriguing. I can’t say I’m blown away but she shows a restraint in her smoky, laid-back vocals that a few of our modern day divas could learn from. She certainly blends folk, country, blues and jazz well into her style. The CD may be worth picking up just for Turn Me On or I’ve Got To See You Again alone.
Since the OP mentioned her, I thought I’d say that Jane Monheit sets me on fire. I saw her perform a few tracks live on TV about six months ago and ran out to buy her CD Never Never Land. She’s not Ella Fitzgerald reincarnate that I heard one critic say but she’s wonderful just the same. Oh, and she’s pretty chesty, too!
Also, allow me to further hijack this thread to plug one of my all-time favourite singers, Cassandra Wilson. I think Blue Light 'Til Dawn is one of the best vocal jazz albums of the '90s.
