Norah Jones

On the subject of Norah Jones, there’s just no hope for objectivity from this reviewer. I fell in love with her the first time I heard her voice, and her song “Come Away With Me” fueled more than a few romantic reveries, even though Ms. Jones is far too young for a man of my years. But, like Billie Holliday or Peggy Lee before her, Jones has a voice to conjure with, and what she conjures in older guys who love jazz is a sweet memory of the men we once were, and the women we once knew. She’s taken a lot of hits from some younger reviewers who dubbed her “Snorah Jones” because they found her understated style boring. She also caught the kind of critical derision that comes to artists trying to follow up on a huge hit. (Her first album sold a gazillion copies, went Diamond, and made her an overnight success in 2002.) The Fall is less jazz-oriented, but it features the same intelligent songwriting, the same evocative voice and the same shards of originality found in that first album. Like Norah Jones, it’s lovely.