Norah Jones

honru

Remember Norah Jones, the Grammy darling of 2003? What was the secret to her sucess apart from her Grammy wins? I mean, in America you usually find a contemporary artist charting here and there, but suprisingly, she did extremely well over here too; here she was beside the likes of Justin Timberlake and Pink. And she had no "hit single" that usually drives an album up the chart.

Just something that was racking up my head over the last few days.

peterd

I first heard about her last year by word of mouth. I downloaded some of her tracks (free) from her website, and just really liked the sound of it, spread the word, and the cycle continued. So, good music, word of mouth, and eh, some people think she's hot.

And is it just me, but is jazz music making it's way back into the popular domain? The other day I saw some young (irish?) artist being interviewed on tv and he was promoting his new jazz single. Didn't catch his name however.

ferdi

she is hot

parasite

Originally posted by peterd
The other day I saw some young (irish?) artist being interviewed on tv and he was promoting his new jazz single. Didn't catch his name however.

that was probably jamie cullum (sp?), who is english and also a muppet with an extremely punchable face :ninja:

dub45

that was probably jamie cullum

If you are a fan of vocalists though his album is well worth a listen I was pleasantly surprised by it:)

Great version of the Jeff Buckley song on it and anyone who covers Jeff cant be bad!

http://www.jamiecullum.com/

Velvet Vocals

Originally posted by parasite
that was probably jamie cullum (sp?), who is english and also a muppet with an extremely punchable face :ninja:

I totally agree, I'd love to smack him one... To be honest I have to say that I don't consider Nora Jones to be Jazz at all. Don't get me wrong, I like her, alot! I think she has a nice voice and has put some good twists on some good songs. But where the album might have a slightly jazz feel to it, it is by no means Jazz. And as for Jamie Cullum, a good kick in the nuts and he's Alled Jones!

eth0_

Originally posted by parasite
that was probably jamie cullum (sp?), who is english and also a muppet with an extremely punchable face :ninja:

No! He's luffley! (A combination of 'lovely' and 'fluffy'). Accept that Jazz is changing, you should be pleased that people like Norah Jones and Jamie Cullum are getting young people into decent jazzy music

honru

Well wha d'ya know, she has a new album out in February and has announced dates at Dublin Point (April 15) and Belfast Waterfront Hall (16). Tickets go onsale this Thursday. Steep price at €44.50/€54.50/€59.50 though... I don't think I can even consider...

Hip

Her father is Ravi Shankar, which I'm sure was a help whether or not she wanted/needed it.

But... maybe it's because all her songs sound like cover versions, I always have a strange feeling that I've heard her stuff before and songs that I thought were covers turned out to be originals, anyone else get that?

Rusty Rhythm

Aw sh1t, the Point!!!

There goes intimacy.

herbie747

Why is Norah Jones discussed on the Jazz board?

DadaKopf

My God Norah Jones is the most boring musican of all time! What is it with people these days loving music that may as well not be there in the first place?

I don't know if it's Jazz - perhaps more pseudo-old times - but whatever it is, it's boring. It's got much more in common with lamoid white jazz - I mean, hardly any whities could play Jazz and whenever they tried, it turned into soulless cornbread ****.

I don't think jazz is coming back. I don't think jazz will ever "come back" because it's moved on so much that it's just music, either it's worked its way into popular music of continues on in avant garde circles (anyone heard Borah Bergman?). On BBC4 a few weeks ago, there was a biography of the English jazz pianist Stan Tracy; he was white, English but played with a New York edge, like he was black. Anyway, he was asked the question "did you think Jazz made a comback in the 1980s?", referring to people like Courtney Pine. He said something like "I've been playing Jazz since the 1940s and I've seen Jazz come and go. Over the years I've seen people say Jazz is making a comeback but it never does, it never will, its time is up."

I totally agree. Any time tits like Norah Jones or Jamie Cullum emerge, they're being pushed by some big record label that does some market research and promotes them like crazy. Then the dumb public thinks they're really good and buys their records when really all those musicians are representing are business investments made good by engineering a new trend to sell commodities.

Real music - real jazz - always came from the margins, from the gutter. Monk, Coltrane, Parker, Rollins, Bergman, Bailey etc., they all live(d) in near poverty. The music was expression, it was necessary. Stan Tracy played Jazz cos he didn't know what else to do, jazz was underground, dangerous, the rave culture of its day but now Jazz is consigned to the history books and occasionally, record companies push people to buck some nostalgia trend, pretend to touch base with something pure and good, when really music is out there, untapped, largely unknown.

How many of us would have been into Coltrane if we were living back in the late 50s/early 60s? I doubt very many of us.

jmc

Blue Note released her album at a special price initially n the U.S. which I'm sure helped her sales early on.

First place I came across her when she was on Jools Holland. You're right, she's by no means innovative but if it points people in the direction of music that they might normally not have listened to then all the better. Annoying maybe if people are declaring they're into jazz all of a sudden and Norah Jones is all they're really listening to of that ilk. It's a chance to stick something else in their stereo that's in a similar vein. People is lazy and they need reference points I thinks.


On the Jamie Cullum note, what do people make of Michael Buble? Haven't heard enough of him yet to say.

DadaKopf

I think you underestimate people's music tastes. People will generally listen to what they're told to. For most people, jazz is too hard a listen.

You're more likely to find a Norah Jones or Jamie Cullum record nestled between Missy Elliot and Gareth Gates.

PS: that was the first time I saw her too.

Sarsfield

Pretentious crap. Thats what puts people off jazz.

Of course thats what some people want - to keep it elitist.

So what if there's some jazz in the 'popular' section of your local record store.

I have jazz, blues, classical, rock & pop all mixed up in my CD rack and I dont care

Having said that, I've no idea what Norah Jones is like (apart from the TV ad for the album) as I mostly listen to live (as in at a gig) music.

DadaKopf

Nothing elitist about it. People are listening to Norah Jones. They get what they expect. The media machine gives people what they (think they) want.

Her music's boring, it's got no soul. It's totally dead, barren, bland.

Nothing elitist about what I'm saying in fact. Just saying that any time people say Jazz ever was making a "comeback" it didn't.

Sarsfield

Wow, that was quick

'Boring' is a subjective term not a factual one. The same goes for 'dead' 'barren' and 'bland' in this context.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'comeback' but jazz is alive and well and performing in Dublin on a regular basis. White guys too

Try Louis Stewart or just about any of the Buckley family!

Like classical or any other music that's been around for a long time, it doesn't make the charts but its consistently there. Consistently selling records and filling bars, concert halls and theatres.

At least thats my experience.

DadaKopf

I'm aware "boring" is a qualitative statement.

And yes I'm aware of that 'scene' of Jazz, as well as more avant garde types, in Dublin. That's why I used the word "margins".

Clearly I was inferring "comeback" to mean a re-entry into the pop charts. No such "comeback" has ever been sustained in music of that type, it has remained at the "margins" with other more "avant garde" types of Jazz. Jazz, therefore, is consigned either to commercially driven novelty, tradition or experimentalism. Each one occupies a different space.