On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the debut album, a special collection with 44 tracks and 22 unreleased songs
20 years ago, on February 26, 2002, a difficult-to-classify album by an unknown 22-year-old singer-songwriter and pianist debuted with modest expectations. Released by the legendary jazz label Blue Note, it wasn’t really a jazz album, nor did it look like anything else on the 2002 pop scene. But Come Away With MeL’album debut of Norah Jones, was destined to fascinate the world and introduce one of the greatest voices of our time. The album continued to gain popularity, eventually becoming a global phenomenon, reaching the top of the charts in 20 countries, selling nearly 30 million copies and scoring up the 2003 Grammy® Awards (eight awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist).
On April 29, Blue Note / UMe will release Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, a stunning 44-track collection that captures the emergence of a singular talent and reveals for the first time the full story of the making of this album now. classic. In addition to a remaster of the original album, produced by Arif Mardin, the Super Deluxe Edition also includes 22 unreleased tracks including the original demos that Norah had presented at Blue Note, all the demos of the first recording session made after signing with the label and the first version of the album that Norah made at Allaire Studios with producer Craig Street: most of these materials have never been heard publicly and offer a fascinating glimpse into the roads the album could have taken.
There 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition was produced by Eli Wolf and will be released digitally and physically both as a 4 LP and 3 CD box, both available in a special package with a substantial booklet full of new liner notes (by Norah herself) and rare photos taken during the engraving sessions. Standard versions (on LP and CD) of the remastered original album will also be released. The alternative – and absolutely unreleased – version of the most famous of Norah’s songs, “Come Away With Me”, coming from the sessions at Allaire Studios is now available for streaming and download.
In February 2002, America was still emerging from the nightmare of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and Norah’s voice and music – pure, warm, reassuring – thrilled listeners around the world. Norah had moved from Texas to New York in 1999 after spending two years as a jazz pianist at the University of North Texas. While playing jazz in the city’s restaurants, Norah fell in love with a circle of songwriters – including Jesse Harris and Richard Julian – who often performed at the Living Room on the Lower East Side, inspiring her to broaden a creative path that would unfold there. little by little.
On Norah’s 21st birthday, Shell White, an employee of EMI Publishing who had listened to her at a jazz brunch, arranged a meeting with then-president of Blue Note Bruce Lundvall. A month later Norah was in Lundvall’s office with a 3-song demo CD, which included two jazz standards: “Walkin ‘My Baby Back Home” and an extraordinarily bold version of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” which Norah he had recorded in the hall of his high school, accompanying himself on the piano. The last song on the CD was a Harris creation, songwriter style, with the composer on acoustic guitar and Lee Alexander on bass.
Shortly thereafter, Lundvall signed a rehearsal contract with Norah, who entered the recording studio determined to focus primarily on new original songs written by both her and Harris and Alexander. “The first song we made in those sessions was by Jesse, ‘Don’t Know Why’: we hadn’t played it live yet”Norah recalls in the liner notes of the new collection. “Good first, fantastic: one of those magical moments where everything is easy. When we went back to the control room to listen, [il tecnico del suono] Jay [Newland] he was in seventh heaven. She immediately won my confidence for the rest of the session and gave a sonic shape to what we were looking for. After all that was said and done, it was this version that ended up on the final disc, with just the addition of some harmonization and the overdub of a second guitar ”.
Lundvall fell in love with the result and signed Norah as a Blue Note artist. At that point, preparations began immediately to record the debut album. “Cassandra Wilson’s New Moon Daughter had been one of my favorite albums and was a huge inspiration for the record I intended to make,” writes Norah. “Since I loved those tonal choices (beautiful guitars, both slide and acoustic) and the style of production, I asked Bruce to meet the producer, Craig Street. We met a couple of times and we got along really well. He liked my demos and he said we should release them as a record – or use most of them anyway – but I was really determined to explore a little different atmosphere, and I was sure he could help me with my research. “
Norah and Street walked into Allaire Studios (near Woodstock in upstate New York) with some of his favorite musicians, including Bill Frisell and Kevin Breit on guitars, Brian Blade and Kenny Wollesen on drums, Rob Burger on accordion and organ. and Lee Alexander on bass. “Almost everything we recorded felt special. We re-recorded most of the demo songs to see where they could go, ”recalls Norah. But during the mixing session Norah began to wonder if they had gone too far with some of the songs, and to wonder if Craig Street was ultimately right about the strength of the previous demos.
After delivering Allaire Studios mixes to Blue Note, Lundvall came to the same conclusion: the new recordings had strayed too far from what was so special about the demos. It was decided that Norah should return to the studio to start over, this time with Arif Mardin in production. They ended up keeping three songs from Allaire Studios sessions (“Seven Years”, “Feelin ‘The Same Way” and “The Long Day Is Over”), two from the demos (“Don’t Know Why” and “Turn Me On ”), Plus they recorded nine additional songs that came closest to the spirit of the demos. The resulting album became Come Away With Me.
Now, 20 years later, Norah has decided to release the “Allaire version” of the album. “It was a bit like time travel to an ‘alternate universe’ of the album that no one has ever heard”, He says. “When I contacted Craig to talk to him about it, he suggested I ask Tony Maserati to put his hand on the recordings to balance the parts. This has brought my voice to the fore, and I can finally listen to myself ‘as a child’ – at 22 – to try new things, in tune with the music that surrounds me. Revisiting these sessions after hearing them only once in the last twenty years was a nice surprise. I was so happy to finally find Craig and finish what we started together. I learned a lot from him, I always think of that past period as a dream, and I still have that feeling when listening to these recordings ”.
Reflecting on Come Away With Me, Norah adds: “I was incredibly proud of this album and so grateful to everyone who made it with me… I thought it was a good first try and I felt it really reflected who I was – musically – at the time, which made me feel a certain pride – in short, everything you could possibly want when making a record. Finally, I felt gratitude for having had the chance to explore different paths before reaching a final synthesis. Nobody, not even the label, had any idea of the success that everything would soon have conquered. I am always grateful to Bruce and the extraordinary Blue Note team for giving me the opportunity to find my sound, and for never imposing a different vision and artistic identity on me ”.
Come Away With Me — 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition – Track Listing:
DISC 1
Come Away With Me – 20th Anniversary Remaster
1 Don’t Know Why
2 Seven Years
3 Cold Cold Heart
4 Feelin ‘The Same Way
5 Come Away With Me
6 Shoot The Moon
7 Turn Me On
8 Lonestar
9 I’ve Got To See You Again
10 Painter Song
11 One Flight Down
12 Nightingale
13 The Long Day Is Over
14 The Nearness Of You
DISC 2
The Demos
1 Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most
2 Walkin ‘My Baby Back Home
3 World of Trouble
First Sessions Outtakes
4 The Only Time
5 I Didn’t Know About You
6 Something Is Calling You (tabla version)
7 Just Like A Dream Today
8 When Sunny Gets Blue
9 What Am I To You
10 Hallelujah I Love Him So
11 Daydream
All tracks above previously unreleased
First Sessions EP
12 Don’t Know Why
13 Come Away With Me
14 Something Is Calling You
15 Turn Me On
16 Lonestar
17 Peace
These 6 demos previously released as the promo-only First Sessions EP
DISC 3
The Allaire Sessions
1 I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
2 I’ve Got To See You Again *
3 What Would I Do
4 Come Away With Me *
5 Picture In A Frame **
6 Nightingale *
7 Peace *
8 What Am I To You *
9 Painter Song *
10 Turn Me On *
11 A Little At A Time
12 One Flight Down *
13 Fragile
* alternate version
** alternate mix
All tracks previously unreleased except “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” and “Picture In A Frame”
