It’s ‘Not Too Late’ to pick up Jones’ new album
Norah Jones
Not Too Late
[Blue Note; 2007]
Grade: A
Norah Jones gained quite a bit of fame with her debut 2002 album Come Away With Me and won 8 Grammy’s for her effort.
Top 40 radio stations around the country were playing her music and even my mom bought the album.
For me, listening to the latest Norah Jones album was done with some precaution.
After hearing her recent left of center collaboration with artist Mike Patton, a musical madman, I was a little more optimistic, and it turns out my optimism was warranted.
Jones continues to create beautiful piano melodies and her voice is as graceful as it ever was, but the execution of the songs is a little bit different and a lot more interesting.
Jones took back much of the songwriting control that she had outsourced for her previous albums and as an outcome her songs are little bit darker and carry with them a bigger feeling of authenticity.
The songs on Not Too Late were written across the world during her 2004 and 2005 tours. “The Sun Doesn’t Lie” was written while she was in Brazil, “Until the End” was written in the South Pacific and “Rosie’s Lullaby” was written in Australia.
The album sounds much more like a debut album, with all of its vision and opportunistic feel, but at the same time it has the maturity of an older album. Together
the mix makes Not Too Late Jones’ best album to date.
Artists lending their musical talents on the album include vocalist Daru Oda, drummer Andy Borger, vocalist and current tour mate M. Ward, guitarist Jesse Harris and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler of the Kronos Quartet.
Not Too Late is perfect for fans of Regina Spektor, Cat Power, Iron & Wine and Elliot Smith.