It’s been four years since Norah Jones has released a studio album and new material (Pick Me Up Off the Floor). There was a holiday album and a live album in 2021. Once again, Jones has come up with an album, Visions, that highlights her gorgeous and singular vocal style and ability to write songs that move from the infectiously catchy to varied in the way she seamlessly mixes styles, particularly jazz, country, and soul.
She can add subtle modern touches to her music, as she does on the catchy “Running,” but never panders to current pop trends. The song fits right in with today’s music, but is an instant timeless classic. When Jones first burst on the scene in 2002, she was hailed as breathing new life into piano-jazz styled music. On later albums she has shown her fun side and songwriter chops by making music that has a little of the jazz and country of the earlier sound that is at the core of her music, but now she adds more soul and pop.
She wrote three of the songs here and co-wrote the rest. She is not afraid to try new musical ideas and to mix drums and brass in unique ways, particularly on “I Just Wanna Dance.” There is an almost stripped-down, Philly soul feel on some tracks, like on “All This Time.” Rather than resorting to mostly electronic keyboards like on so many pop music hits these days, Jones relies more on acoustic piano and, on “I’m Aware,” “On My Way,” and “That’s Life” incorporates an organ sound like from an old movie that adds a spooky, atmospheric mood.
Jones is aided here by musicians up for the task of creating music of stylistic breadth and subtle musicianship, including ace jazz drummer Brian Blade, Jesse Murphy of Brazilian Girls, and Homer Steinweiss and Dave Guy of the Dap-Kings. Her main collaborator, Leon Michels, who also serves as the album’s producer and her co-songwriter on eight songs, and who adds his playing on many instruments, is also from the Dap-Kings. With the death of lead Dap-King singer Sharon Jones in 2016, it’s nice to see these extraordinary New York musicians continuing to make great music together and joining forces with fellow New Yorkers Norah Jones and Jesse Murphy.
This is an album that evokes the quiet and solitude of the evening and the dreamlike stirrings of the unconscious. At a time when so much pop music is in one’s face, these interior meditations are both a comforting and equally discomfiting rumination on thought and the unquiet mind.
While obviously a solo artist, Jones does resourcefully use many other musicians on her albums to great effect. Couple this with her work as part of the Little Willies, Puss and Boots, and the album she did with Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, among other projects, and you have an artist who is amassing a significant body of work and seems to get stronger with each new release.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
