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Last Thursday afternoon Jones sat at her piano at home, where she began to hum along as she played minor chords accompanied by a sequence of minor chords on a piano. She donned a striped dress and hoop earrings for this performance.

Jones hails from a suburb of Dallas, Texas, where she sang church choirs and studied music at Booker T. Washington High School for Performing Arts. Eventually attending Interlochen Arts Camp twice and winning Down Beat’s Best Student Jazz Vocalist award twice was her path to musical excellence.

Her Early Years

Norah Jones has confounded expectations of many 20-something musicians. She stands as an artist of classic rendition, elevating both jazz and popular music to new levels of creativity and excellence.

Jones majored in jazz piano at the University of North Texas, performing with their Jazz Singers ensemble. An accidental meeting with band member Jesse Harris led her to relocate permanently to Manhattan in 1999.

Her debut album Come Away With Me quickly established her as an artist with a soothing vocal tone and relaxed atmosphere that fits comfortably in coffee shops or hotels.

Come Away With Me

Released in 2002, this was Norah Jones’ debut album and Blue Note Records’ inaugural signing. Her mellow smoke voice, which could have come straight out of cabaret or honky-tonk was an instantaneous hit and the title track is an emotional, calm love song; its video shows Norah driving her 1971 Cadillac DeVille purchased by her mother from Texas which has become an emblematic piece in her career – now selling more than 10 million copies worldwide!

Feels Like Home

Norah Jones’ romantic ballad “Fells Like Home” stands out on her second album as an intricate tapestry of piano, guitar, synthesizers, and strings meld together beautifully – it truly makes the cut!

Geetali Norah Shankar developed her musical talents at a young age, performing in choir, playing piano and guitar (sometimes alto saxophone too!), attending Interlochen Arts Camp and Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas before changing her name to Norah Jones at age 16.

Norah Jones brings her intimate jazz style to this podcast series as she sits down with guests for musical collaboration and candid discussions.

Not Too Late

Norah remains an exceptional singer, yet her songs tend to merge into one long slow ballad. There are some exceptions such as My Dear Country with its waltz twist or Rosie’s Lullaby with its simple melodies that stand out.

Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua’s Not Too Late is a collection of essays that seeks to transform climate change despair into activism. Organizers such as Julian Aguon (Guam-based lawyer and writer); climate scientists such as Jacquelyn Gill and Edward Carr; as well as artists such as Marshall Islands activist Kathy Jentil-Kijiner are featured within its pages.

The Fall

Norah Jones makes her return to guitar-driven music on The Fall, her first since her debut. However, even with new producer Jacquire King – known for working with Tom Waits and Kings of Leon among others – and guest musicians including Ryan Adams from Okkervil River’s Will Sheff performing alongside them, these intimate songs remain.

Still, 30-year-old crooner Amanda Shires appears more than ready for change. She added a darker edge to the saloon-stompers of this album that may have been inspired by her separation from bassist Lee Alexander and their band‘s move toward rock music.

Little Broken Hearts

Little Broken Hearts stands apart as an album that captures the loneliness and isolation of Beck’s Sea Change, featuring tracks as disparate as “Take It Back” and the joyfully cooing yet plaintive single “Happy Pills.” Little Broken Hearts marks an abrupt change of course for Jones’s career.

After her two mellow meditations on love were released through Come Away With Me, Jones found herself creatively restless by the end of the aughts. 2009 saw the release of rockier album The Fall while 2012 brought collaboration with Danger Mouse (Brian Burton).

Day Breaks

Jones has spent 14 years exploring folk, country, R&B and Spaghetti Western rock; she collaborated with Danger Mouse and produced albums for young, black audiences; but on Day Breaks she returns to her earlier piano-driven sound.

It was a quiet, unassuming set that blended in to the background seamlessly – an indication of confidence from both singer and audience alike.

Pick Me Up Off the Floor

Even while being under lockdown due to COVID-19, Jones has continued recording in her home music room. This resulted in Pick Me Up Off the Floor: a collection of rejected songs and collaborations which somehow came together more cohesively than expected.

Jones continues the legacy of her 2012 collaboration with Danger Mouse, Little Broken Hearts, with this gentle folky contemplation on heartbreak and loss that defies topical limits. Jones’ breathy vocals float above a musical canvas composed of piano-heavy jazz, folk, and blues genres.