Newcomer Norah Jones went 5-for-5 at the 45th annual Grammy Awards Sunday night even upstaging Bruce Spring-steen for Album of the Year.
Jones won Grammyphones for Single of the Year: “Don’t Know Why,” Album of the Year: “Come Away With Me,” Song of the Year: “Don’t Know Why,” Best New Artist and Female Vocalist of the Year during the awards show Sunday night.
Norah Jones is a 23-year-old pianist and singer who was born in New York but raised in Texas. Jones is the daughter of sitarist Ravi Shankar who gained fame through exposure with the Beatles.
Jones attended North Texas State University where she studied jazz piano.
She caught a break while at North Texas when the student council asked her to pick up a jazz band at the airport. They started playing together and she moved to New York City permanently in the summer of 1999.
While playing in piano bars on both the Lower and Upper East Sides of NYC she constantly attracted an older crowd while still remaining popular. The audiences grew larger and larger while finally the jazz record giant Blue Note offered her a contract in January 2001. Her music has now become the rage while attracting a more mature audience.
Norah Jones’ music is a wraparound of the ’40s and ’50s with her smooth voice and her innocent charm. It’s the smoky piano bar with the clientele drinking martinis and lighting their cigars in a calm atmosphere.
It does seem that the skills of piano playing are once again being appreciated through Jones and singers such as Cold Play and Vanessa Carlton.
The NY Times called her style the new realism since Sept. 11. That may be true but Jones represents the more “mature millennium” that we are encountering after a wild ’80s and a sexed-up ’90s.
Even Jones’ appearance on stage says she is the real deal whose stability is intact.
Her jazzy, sultry tunes take us back to the days of songbird greats such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn when female jazz vocalists were en vogue.
We are taken to a time when life was structured when we listen to Jones. She is not the skater girl of the late ’90s nor is her music abhorrent to the ear when it plays.
Even her style of dress resembles that of a lady living in the ’50s with its elegance and class.
Norah Jones has a bright future especially in the jazz industry. She may or may not realize it, but her music has brought back a piece of the puzzle that has been missing a long time. The ivory and the simple elegance of her voice create a world outside of the technologically driven music industry.
Norah Jones brings back the style of music that remained unappreciated after the late ’60s. Quietly Jones is helping to build back the towers after Sept. 11 with harmony.

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