| Sound & Spirit: CD Reviews | by
Don Strong Norah Jones -- "Come Away With Me" Blue Note Records In his song "I Can't Run, But I Can Walk Much Faster Than This" poet/musician Paul Simon laments, "...The music suffers baby, but the music business thrives." His is a cogent comment on mass marketing and the loss of artistic vision in American pop music culture. So here's the blues baby: After the turbulent, creative cauldron of the '60s, huge corporate media conglomerates noticed that there were way too many billions to be made in pop music to leave its evolution in the hands of artists and their sympathizers. So now, in our MTV, hyper-fast, advertising-dominated culture, most music consumers are influenced by what flows out of the tube and over corporate commercial radio airwaves. As one who considers himself a creative musician, I've always been somewhat frustrated and flummoxed by this music business. But like a wildflower that pokes it's head out from between the cracks in the concrete, every once in a while, an unexpected artist surfaces through the layers of slick commercial pop that's pushed on the public. At this year's annual Grammy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize of the music biz, there was a wonderful surprise. In the midst of pouting musical Barbie dolls, posturing white rappers and third-generation heavy metal rebels-with-no-cause, a singular, simple and soulful voice emerged. This voice belongs to newcomer Norah Jones. Maybe a week before the Grammy's were televised, my teen daughter was trying to reserve Jones's CD at the library. All her homies were buzzing about the cool, understated singer (also known to publicists as the 24 year-old love child of Ravi Shankar and dancer, producer and nurse Sue Jones). My aspiring teen musician would've had to wait in a library line of over a hundred, so I bought her a copy of the disc, remembering we'd heard a pleasant bit of it at a friend's annual candle-dipping party. We listened to it together expectantly. At first blush, there was no great sensation. Then, with repeated plays, Jones's relaxed, unhurried voice, sparse piano and muted band was, I noticed, speaking to me at a deeper level. My ears could taste friendly, familiar flavors of Carol King, Laura Nyro, Bonnie Raitt (in ballad mode), Ricky Lee Jones, Van Morrison and Robbie Robertson. I could hear Jones respectfully acknowledge the roots of the music she was playing: R&B, country, and jazz. Like with Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart" -- a woody acoustic bass groove, no drums, and "Cast Your Fate to The Wind," kinda piano and up-close, butter-smooth ingenue vocals. "Turn Me On," the old J.D. Loudermilk tune, with an economical bluesy, B-3 organ-tinged treatment that would make Al Green smile. In "If I Were A Painter" with French musette accordion solo and two-beat slow drag rhythm, Jones creates a sublime cafe world. Even upon closer inspection of the Cajun-spiced "I've Got To See You Again," with guy's-eye-view lyric in a sexy minor-key tango, I don't mind because I'm temporarily lost in Jones's caramel voice. Norah Jones's music is not groundbreaking. That's OK -- it doesn't need to be. Her sound is gratefully right on time though, like a fresh breath of air or a sip of cool, clear water in a world of Glade plug-in fresheners and Gatorade. I'm especially happy that the same teens who are plugged into MTV are digging Norah. To me, this is real music, truthfully re-delivered to a new audience by a beautiful, young messenger. You go girl! Don Strong is a musician, poet and playwright who creates cinematic music for film and theatre. Don also performs in the Twin Cities as a jazz singer, produces CDs for Chanhassen Melody Recordings, and teaches music for Minneapolis Public Schools. Don can be reached at www.donstrongmusic.com Copyright © 2003 Don Strong |
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