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Norah Jones was born March 30, 1979, in New York City. But the singer and composer's musical life began in Grapevine, Texas. |
It was during her time there that the daughter of Ravi Shankar began singing in church choirs, taking piano lessons -- even briefly trying out the alto saxophone.
But her earliest influences came not from her famous father, but rather from her mother's extensive LP collection and a Dallas oldies station. It was among her mom's records that she found the first jazz recordings that spoke to her. "My mom had this eight-album Billie Holiday set. I picked out one disc that I liked and played that over and over again. 'You Go To My Head,' that was my favorite..."
Norah and her mother, Sue, moved to central Dallas when Norah was 15. She became a student at the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Inspired by an Etta James recording of "I'll Be Seeing You," she performed her version at age 16 in a local coffeehouse on open mic night. It was her first solo gig. While in high school she played with a jazz-rock band and earned her first awards: the 1996 Down Beat Student Music Awards for "Best Jazz Vocalist" and "Best Original Composition." She won the Down Beat SMA for "Best Jazz Vocalist" again in 1997. She later majored in jazz piano at the University of North Texas.
Her musical life started taking off when she moved to Manhattan in 1999 "for the summer." She found a musical life so rich and appealing that she made the city her home. Later that year, she began to appear regularly with a funk-fusion band called Wax Poetic (Atlantic Records). By the fall of 2000 she had a group of her own, with which she recorded some demos for Blue Note Records. Following a live showcase, she signed with Blue Note in January 2001.
Her first album, 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. Producer Arif Mardin says the CD was a tipping-point album. "People were ready for heartfelt music. 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."
Her second album, Feels Like Home, features her core group (guitarists Adam Levy and Kevin Breit, background vocalist Daru Oda, bassist Lee Alexander and drummer Andrew Borger) with guests such as Dolly Parton, drummer Levon Helm and organist/accordionist Garth Hudson of The Band. Also taking part are some long-time friends -- guitarists Jesse Harris and Tony Scherr, drummer Brian Blade and keyboardist Rob Burger.
This program is Jones' second appearance on Piano Jazz and was recorded live at the 2003 Tanglewood Jazz festival with a record-setting audience on hand.
Check out this week's Piano Jazz Shorts: the Piano Jazz podcast.
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Set List for Norah Jones on Piano Jazz:Mean To Me (Alhert, Turk)
Lover Man (Davis, Ramirez, Sherman)
Walking My Baby Back Home (Alhert, Turk)
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most (Landesman, Wolf)
Melancholia (Ellington with Lyric by N. Jones)
Tenderly (Gross, Lawrence)
Portrait of Norah Jones (McPartland)
Summertime (George and Ira Gershwin, Heyward)
Easy Livin' (Rainger, Robin)
A Foggy Day In London Town (G. & I Gershwin)
But her earliest influences came not from her famous father, but rather from her mother's extensive LP collection and a Dallas oldies station. It was among her mom's records that she found the first jazz recordings that spoke to her. "My mom had this eight-album Billie Holiday set. I picked out one disc that I liked and played that over and over again. 'You Go To My Head,' that was my favorite..."
Norah and her mother, Sue, moved to central Dallas when Norah was 15. She became a student at the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Inspired by an Etta James recording of "I'll Be Seeing You," she performed her version at age 16 in a local coffeehouse on open mic night. It was her first solo gig. While in high school she played with a jazz-rock band and earned her first awards: the 1996 Down Beat Student Music Awards for "Best Jazz Vocalist" and "Best Original Composition." She won the Down Beat SMA for "Best Jazz Vocalist" again in 1997. She later majored in jazz piano at the University of North Texas.
Her musical life started taking off when she moved to Manhattan in 1999 "for the summer." She found a musical life so rich and appealing that she made the city her home. Later that year, she began to appear regularly with a funk-fusion band called Wax Poetic (Atlantic Records). By the fall of 2000 she had a group of her own, with which she recorded some demos for Blue Note Records. Following a live showcase, she signed with Blue Note in January 2001.
Her first album, 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. Producer Arif Mardin says the CD was a tipping-point album. "People were ready for heartfelt music. 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."
Her second album, Feels Like Home, features her core group (guitarists Adam Levy and Kevin Breit, background vocalist Daru Oda, bassist Lee Alexander and drummer Andrew Borger) with guests such as Dolly Parton, drummer Levon Helm and organist/accordionist Garth Hudson of The Band. Also taking part are some long-time friends -- guitarists Jesse Harris and Tony Scherr, drummer Brian Blade and keyboardist Rob Burger.
This program is Jones' second appearance on Piano Jazz and was recorded live at the 2003 Tanglewood Jazz festival with a record-setting audience on hand.
Check out this week's Piano Jazz Shorts: the Piano Jazz podcast.
Subscribe!
Set List for Norah Jones on Piano Jazz: