Norah Jones 

Norah Jones Discography

Norah has most of the same primary musicians backing her as on her previous releases, but additionally adds other musicians throughout the album. In fact this personnel give the album some of its differences, primarily the use of a variety of well placed horns (sax, trumpets, tuba's, etc.) on select tracks. 

The horns are notable on two tracks that remind of some Steely Dan material that I love. First, "Sinkin' Soon" is a waltz, very well done. Norah usually likes to have a jazzy track on a album and this would be the one from Not Too Late. The Steely Dan track I noted is a Duke Ellington cover from their Pretzel Logic release entitled "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo." If you like this track another that comes to mind is Garcia Grisman's "Dawg's Waltz," from their debut. 

The other Steely Dan "link" is on the track, "Thinking About You." It has a great pop feel, with the organ carrying the rhythm, while the saxophone nicely fills the spaces.  This song is a keeper. This reminds me of the Steely Dan track, "Dirty Work," from their debut Can't Buy a Thrill. Sure, Dan open up the instrumental section longer, but the organ and saxophone lines are very reminiscent. While hearing the song I'm waiting for Norah to sing the words, 
"I'm a fool to do your dirty work
Oh yeah
I don't wanna do your dirty work
No more
I'm a fool to do your dirty work
Oh yeah"
That didn't happen. So do I like the song because it brings back memories? Perhaps. However, if the song wasn't good, the reaction would be negative rather than positive. 

Adding a country flavor, in a mellow way, Jones sings "Wake Me Up," and in a bit more upbeat mode to "Rosie's Lullaby."

Several tracks sounds like they could enjoy great radio success, "I Wish I Could," Think' About You," "Be My Somebody," and "Rosie's Lullaby." They are all solid. "Be My Somebody" is the hardest rocking song on the album, due to the slide guitar charms of Tony Scherr.

Jones ends the album like her first two, a soft solo number. Well almost. On this one  she does implement very light use of bass and drums rather than just piano.

Overall a solid release that offers several songs that will be fan favorites, as well as some solid album track keepers and a few sleepers, covering a range of styles. 

Not Too Late TRACK LISTING:
1. Wish I Could
2. Sinkin' Soon
3. The Sun Doesn't Like You
4. Until The End
5. Not My Friend
6. Thinkin’ About You
7. Broken
8. My Dear Country
9. Wake Me Up
10. Be My Somebody
11. Little Room
12. Rosie's Lullaby
13. Not Too Late

DVD with Deluxe edition

1. "Thinking About You" (Music Video)
2. "Until The End" (Music Video)
3. "Sinkin' Soon" (Music Video)
4. Interview with Norah
5. "Thinking About You" (behind the scenes at the video shoot)
6. "Sinkin' Soon" (behind the scenes at the video shoot)
PLUS two live bonus tracks from Rehearsals.com filmed in Burbank, CA, in November 2006.

Jones’ last release, 2004’s Feels Like Home (Blue Note) is certified four times platinum in the U.S. The album’s lead single “Sunrise,” earned Jones a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, bringing her career total to eight, including two Grammys for “Here We Go Again,” her 2004 collaboration with Ray Charles, and five for her 2002 debut album ‘Come Away with Me.’ Jones’ career sales total over 15 million in the U.S. and over 30 million worldwide, making her the best-selling female artist of the 21st century.

Not Too Late features many of Jones’ longtime collaborators including guitarists Adam Levy, Jesse Harris, Kevin Breit and Robbie McIntosh, drummer Andy Borger, and singer Daru Oda. Other album guests include singer M. Ward, organist Larry Goldings, and Kronos Quartet cellist Jeffrey Zeigler.

Not Too Late was recorded in 2006 at various locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including Jones and Alexander’s home studio.

Not too Late album credit details 

1. "Wish I Could" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals; Jesse Harris: acoustic guitars; Julia Kent: pizzicato cello; Jeffery Ziegler: bowed cello 

2. "Sinkin' Soon" (Lee Alexander-Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals, piano; Daru Oda: vocals; M. Ward: vocals; Jesse Harris: guitjo; Kevin Breit: mandolin; J. Walter Hawkes: trombone; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums, slit drum, pots and pans 

3. "The Sun Doesn't Like You" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, piano; Jesse Harris: acoustic guitar; Adam Levy: electric guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums; Paul Bryan: Chamberlain keyboards 

4. "Until The End" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, Wurlitzer, piano; Jesse Harris: acoustic guitar; Adam Levy: electric guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums; Larry Goldings: Hammond B-3 organ 

5. "Not My Friend" (Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals; Jesse Harris: acoustic guitars; Adam Levy: backwards electric guitars; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: marimba, cymbals 

6. "Thinking About You" (Norah Jones-Ilhan Ersahin): Norah Jones: vocals, Wurlitzer; Chuck Mackinnon: trumpet; Rob Suddith: tenor sax; Lee Alexander: bass; Tony Mason: drums; Devin Greenwood: Hammond B-3 organ 

7. "Broken" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, electric guitar; Julia Kent: outro cellos; Lee Alexander: pizzicato, bowed basses 

8. "My Dear Country" (Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals, piano; J. Walter Hawkes: trombones; Jose Davilla: tuba; Bill McHenry: tenor sax; Larry Goldings: Hammond B-3 organ 

9. "Wake Me Up" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, acoustic guitars; Lee Alexander: bass, lap steel; Andy Borger: drums 

10. "Be My Somebody" (Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals, Wurlitzer; Richard Julian: vocals; Tony Scherr: electric guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums; Larry Goldings: Hammond B-3 organ 

11. "Little Room" (Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals, acoustic guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Daru Oda: whistle 

12. "Rosie's Lullaby" (Norah Jones-Daru Oda): Norah Jones: vocals, Wurlitzer; Daru Oda: vocals; Adam Levy: electric guitar, vocal; Robbie McIntosh: electric guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums 

13. "Not Too Late" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, piano, Mellotron; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums 

Press Release
Norah Jones - Feels Like Home 
When Norah Jones released her debut disc, Come Away With Me, on Blue Note Records in February 2002, the then 22-year-old singer had no idea the album would be a best-seller. In fact, she kept her expectations low. "I like having low expectations, 'cause then if something turns out well, you're always surprised in a good way," says Jones at Sear Studios in New York while doing the final mixes on her album Feels Like Home.

As it turns out, Jones enjoyed an abundance of surprises. A runaway hit, "Come Away With Me," became a multi-Grammy winner, multi-platinum seller and opened the door for her to perform around the world with her band. Her producer Arif Mardin surmises that the CD was a tipping-point album. "People were ready for heartfelt music," he says, while working with Jones on the mixes. "Norah is in the vanguard of another kind of pop music listeners have been yearning for. We're now in a period of time where listeners are looking for real artists."

Norah Jones returns to the heartfelt on Feels Like Home, her new Blue Note album. The collection features the singer-songwriter-pianist once again teaming with Mardin, engineer Jay Newland and her close-knit touring band. Jones has penned several songs-by herself and with songwriting partner Lee Alexander-gathered other songs from her band mates and friends, and delivers three covers: Townes Van Zandt's "Be Here To Love Me," Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's "The Long Way Home" and Duke Ellington's "Melancholia," which she wrote lyrics to and retitled "Don't Miss You At All."

The CD was recorded in two sessions. Last April Jones and her band convened in an upstate New York studio and worked on new songs, including some they had been performing in concert. After an extensive U.S. summer tour, everyone reassembled in New York City to revisit the tracks already recorded, work on different arrangements that had been road-tested and add new numbers to the mix.

On the disc, Jones plays piano, Wurlitzer electric piano and pump organ and features her core group, comprising guitarists Adam Levy and Kevin Breit, background vocalist Daru Oda, bassist Lee Alexander and drummer Andrew Borger. She also brings aboard a select short-list of guests, including Dolly Parton, drummer Levon Helm and organist/accordionist Garth Hudson of The Band, long-time friends guitarists Jesse Harris and Tony Scherr, drummer Brian Blade and keyboardist Rob Burger.

Mardin oversaw the production and again watched Jones work her magic. "These new songs have been a wonderful journey. This album is not about synthesizers or computers. It's about Norah being au natural. She doesn't need pitch correction. She's always in tune, and her voice always touches you. Millions of people around the world feel the same way."

Like the first album, Jones imbues the music on Feels Like Home with country, pop and jazz colors. Unlike the quiet, balladic mood of Come Away With Me (which she once characterized as "mellow"), Jones varied the tempo on the new album to reflect the evolution of her live performances. "I'm very proud of my first record, but I was ready for something a little different," she says, then jokes, "This time it's not quite as mellow. But it's still pretty low-key."

The first single of the CD, "Sunrise," has a bright, buoyant feel and is a tune co-written by Jones and Alexander. "We've been writing a lot together the last two years," she says. "We finally figured how we work best."

The Borger-Oda tune "Above Ground" grooves with funky tinges and chills with gorgeous harmony vocals. "We played this song for the first time in April, and the rehearsal ended up being the take. I'm glad Jay taped it!"

Levy's contribution, "In the Morning," features Jones pushing beyond the mellow zone with a bluesy wail and a Wurlitzer solo. "Well, that's rockin' out for us," she says with a smile. "Actually, that was one of the first new songs that we played when we started."

Alexander's hoedown, "Creepin' In," another Jones and Co. upbeat in-concert highlight, almost didn't make it onto the record because the group wasn't sure it would mesh with the rest of the material. But after Jones was invited to Nashville to sing with Dolly Parton at the 2003 Country Music Awards, she decided to ask the country singer for a favor: to duet with her on the bluegrass-spiced number. "We asked Dolly if she'd like to sing on the album and she said yes," says Jones. "We were so nervous when she came into the studio. She came in and sang her butt off. She sounds great, and Kevin has a great guitar solo on it."

Equally exciting for Jones was the participation of Helm and Hudson. A big fan of both, she brought the pair in to help her finally nail "What Am I to You," her tune that had been recorded previously. "We've recorded that song five times but never quite got it." On a whim, she called Tony Scherr to take a stab at it when her other two guitarists were out of town. Then she brought in Helm and Hudson. "It was real special. I have a lot of respect for both of them, and they're so nice."

There are several other band originals in the collection, including two slow-tempo beauties with Harris guesting on guitar: Jones and Alexander's melancholic "Carnival Town" and Alexander and singer-songwriter friend Richard Julian's lyrical "Those Sweet Words." Jones and Alexander also collaborated on another live favorite, the gently flowing "Toes"; Breit contributed the character sketch "Humble Me," and Jones co-wrote "The Prettiest Thing" with Alexander and Julian.

As for covers, Jones renders Townes Van Zandt's "Be Here To Love Me," which she points out has "my favorite Adam Levy guitar moment on the album." Originally she chose the tune to help pick up the tempo on the CD. "But we ended up slowing it down," she says. "Garth sounds great on the accordion, and Kevin, Adam and Daru sang background vocals." She hastens to add, "It's a great song. I love Townes."

Jones is also an admirer of Tom Waits, whose song "The Long Way Home" (co-written by Waits' wife Kathleen Brennan), driven by an upbeat Johnny Cash-like guitar bass line, appears on the album. "I met Tom and Kathleen at a concert he was doing. Tom asked me if I had listened to the demos he sent me," Jones says. "I didn't even know he had sent me anything, but I assured him I would track them down." She did and she liked what she heard, but was reluctant at first to record it. "We've covered a couple of his tunes in concert, but it's hard to do because I like his versions so much. I'm a huge fan. We pretty much recorded it like he did."

Feels Like Home also features a song Jones developed four years ago. She wrote lyrics to the Duke Ellington instrumental "Melancholia," recorded a demo of it and has been performing it regularly in concert. She decided to record it for the new disc (as "Don't Miss You At All") especially because Blue Note President Bruce Lundvall loves it so much. "I didn't set out to write lyrics to this song," she says. "Just the thought of touching an Ellington composition scares me. But I was so inspired by it."

Inspiration is at the heart of Feels Like Home. While Jones approached recording her follow-up to Come Away With Me with the same sense of musical integrity, she maintains that she did not set out to duplicate its achievement. "I'm glad that people liked the last album. It was where I was at the time, musically. This is where I am now. That's what a recording is for me, like a snapshot. We had so much fun making this record."

Bonus outtake tracks: She, Come Away With Me, Creepin' In (alternate version), Toes (outtake from "Live In New Orleans")

Music videos: Those Sweet Words, What Am I to You?

1 Cold Cold Heart
2 Nightingale
3 One Flight Down
4 Seven Years
5 Feelin’ the Same Way
6 Comes Love
7 Something Is Calling You
8 Come Away With Me
9 What Am I To You?
10 Painter Song
11 Lonestar
12 I’ve Got to See You Again
13 Bessie Smith
14 Don’t Know Why
15 Encore: Tennessee Waltz
16 Music Video: Come Away With Me

Norah Jones: Vocals, Piano, Wurlitzer
Her Very Handsome Band:
Adam Levy: Guitar, Backing Vocals; Lee Alexander: Bass; Andrew Borger: Drums; Daru: Backing Vocals (track 11)

Blue Note Records To Release Soundtrack To Wong Kar Wai's New Film My Blueberry Nights

Album Due Out Feb 5 Featuring A New Song By Norah Jones, Music By Cat Power, Otis Redding, Ruth Brown, Mavis Staples, Amos Lee, Cassandra Wilson & Selections From Ry Cooder's Score Film Is Wong's English-Language Debut Starring Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz & Natalie Portman

TRACK LISTING:
1. The Story (Norah Jones)
Performed by Norah Jones

2. Living Proof (Chan Marshall)
Performed by Cat Power
From the album The Greatest (Matador Records)

3. Ely Nevada (R.Cooder-J.Cooder)
Performed by Ry Cooder

4. Try A Little Tenderness (Campbell-Connelly-Woods)
Performed by Otis Redding
From the album Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul
(Atlantic Records)

5. Looking Back (Benton-Otis)
Performed by Ruth Brown
From the album Black Is Brown and Brown Is Beautiful (Passport Records)

6. Long Ride (R.Cooder-J.Cooder)
Performed by Ry Cooder

7. Eyes on the Prize (Tradional arr. Cooder-Staples)
Performed by Mavis Staples
From the album We'll Never Turn Back (Anti/Epitaph Records)

8. Yumeji's Theme (Shigeru Umebayashi)
Performed by Chikara Tsuzuki

9. Skipping Stone (Amos Lee)
Performed by Amos Lee
From the album Supply and Demand (Blue Note Records)

10. Bus Ride (Martin Pradler)
Performed by Ry Cooder

11. Harvest Moon (Neil Young)
Performed by Cassandra Wilson
From the album New Moon Daughter (Blue Note Records)

12. Devil's Highway (Cooder-Commagere-Smith-Messelbeck)
Performed by Hello Stranger

13. Pajaros (Gustavo Santaolalla)
Performed by Gustavo Santaolalla

In the film, Elizabeth (Jones) is a disenchanted young woman who embarks on a soul-searching journey to distance herself from a broken heart. As emotional wounds begin to fade, Elizabeth's experiences with a series of disconnected strangers lead to new and unexpected chapters in her life. From the poetic musings of a late-night café owner (Law), to the propositions of a down-on-her-luck gambler (Portman), to the broken bond between a troubled cop (Strathairn) and his rebellious wife (Weisz), these individuals redefin Elizabeth's perspectives on life, relationships and, ultimately, her own identity. Shot across the United States in New York, Memphis, Nevada, California, and along the legendary Route 66, the film is an intimate tale of love and self-discovery that features Wong's trademark visual flair and colorful characters.

“I got a call that Wong Kar Wai was looking for me,” says Jones, recounting how she ended up in her first-ever acting role. “I really didn't know anything about him, so I watched In The Mood For Love and thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I thought maybe he wanted music so I had lunch with him and he asked me if I wanted to be in the movie!”
“I was first introduced to Norah through her music,” explains Wong. “As a matter of fact, I didn't even know what she looked like at the time. However, her voice intrigued me. It was so visual that it gave me a very specific image of her. I found Norah to be a natural actress who also allows her instincts to guide her.”

In between shoots for the film, Jones had managed to find time to record Not Too Late, her third album for Blue Note, which was released in January 2007 to critical acclaim, spending three weeks at #1 on the Billboard chart and going on to sell over four million copies worldwide. Originally, it was agreed that the multi-Grammy Award winner wouldn't contribute any music to the film's soundtrack so that she could focus on acting instead. However, at the last minute Wong changed his mind. 
“He asked if I had any songs that would go with the soundtrack, and actually there was this song I wrote one morning at 6 a.m. after we had finished shooting in New York City, and I came home and I wasn't tired yet,” Jones explains. “I went into my piano room which faces east and I watched the sun come up. It was so beautiful. I wrote that song that morning, very quickly, it just kind of came out. And then when he asked if I had any songs to contribute, that song made sense because it definitely was influenced by my experience in the film.”

“The Story”-which opens both the film and soundtrack album-reflects upon Jones' apprehension as a first-time actor (“I don't know how to begin”) and Wong's notoriously improvisational style of script-writing on the fly (“I don't know how it will end”). It's the sole new song on a diverse soundtrack featuring new and classic American music that Jones herself had a hand in selecting.
“[Wong] asked me before we started shooting if I would give him some music choices. He gave me a stack of photographs from their location scout and said to pick some music that goes along with the pictures. So I picked music that I already loved and also thought would fit. We ended up using a lot of the music during shooting. He would use the music to set up the mood or get the timing right.”

As Wong writes in the album's liner notes: “In order to understand how [Elizabeth] might travel from one ocean to the other, I took that long journey myself, not once but three times-three different routes from New York to Santa Monica… Mile after mile, the view outside my window and the music from the car stereo synched in unexpected ways to give me my first glimpse into the landscape of Elizabeth's heart. These trips not only shaped the story of MBN, but the soundtrack as well.”
Wong is no stranger to using American music in his films (consider his prominent use of The Mamas and The Papas' “California Dreamin'” in 1994's Chungking Express), typically setting a classic American song against a Hong Kong backdrop, a jarring technique that beautifully expressed his character's isolation or longing.
The opposite is true of My Blueberry Nights, with the music going hand-in-hand with the setting and perfectly capturing the landscapes and emotions. Most of the songs on the soundtrack are rooted in various American musical styles including R&B, Soul, Rock, Folk and Jazz, and they all reflect upon love and loss from different perspectives, whether it be Cassandra Wilson's spacious, dreamy take on Neil Young's “Harvest Moon,” Mavis Staples' driving rendition of the traditional “Eyes on the Prize” (which was produced by Ry Cooder), or Cat Power's sweet sad updating of Memphis soul on “Living Proof” and “The Greatest” (Chan Marshall also makes a cameo appearance in the film).
Amos Lee's soulful “Skipping Stone” acknowledges the hurt of heartbreak (“I don't know if I can do this alone / After all our sweet love has flown”), but almost seems to be reassuring Elizabeth's character that “Lovers will come / Lovers will go.”
Two classics-Otis Redding's soaring “Try A Little Tenderness” and Ruth Brown's regretful “Looking Back”-perfectly complement the heart-wrenching story set in Memphis of a lost love between an alcoholic cop who desperately struggles to hold on to his estranged wife despite her cold determination to begin a new life for herself.
The musical glue of the film and soundtrack album, however, are the instrumental selections from the score by Ry Cooder (Paris, Texas, Buena Vista Social Club), roots rock miniatures that convey the spaciousness and moodiness of the film. Three of Cooder's instrumentals appear on the album-“Ely Nevada,” “Long Ride” and “Busride”-as well as a lovely instrumental piece by Oscar-winning Argentinian composer Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel) entitled “Pajaros.”