Norah Jones Not Too Late CD

Personnel: Norah Jones (vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, pump organ, Wurlitzer organ, Mellotron); Norah Jones (Wurlitzer piano); Daru Oda (vocals, whistling, whistle); Adam Levy (vocals, electric guitar); M. Ward, Richard Julian (vocals); Tony Scherr, Robbie McIntosh (electric guitar); Lee Alexander (lap steel guitar, bass instrument); Rob Sudduth, Bill McHenry (tenor saxophone); Chuck MacKinnon (trumpet); J. Walter Hawkes (trombone); Jose Davila (tuba); Larry Goldings (organ, Hammond b-3 organ); Paul Bryan (keyboards); Jesse Harris (acoustic guitar); Kevin Breit (mandolin); Julia Kent, Jeffrey Zeigler (cello); Andrew Borger (marimba, drums, cymbals, pans); Tony Mason (drums).
Audio Mixers: Tom Schick; Lee Alexander.
Recording information: Brooklyn Recording, NY; The Coop, New York, NY.
Photographer: Todd Chalfant.
For a young and commercially successful artist, Norah Jones has admirably avoided playing it too safe. After scoring an unlikely sales sensation and multiple Grammy award winner with 2002's torchy COME AWAY WITH ME, Jones shifted gears slightly to accent that album's country and folk elements on the 1970s-styled follow-up, FEELS LIKE HOME. Following that, Jones deliberately played with expectations, first becoming a low-key sideman in a quirky alt-country band called the Little Willies, then playing the lead role in a new movie by Hong Kong arthouse director Wong Kar-Wai.
Jones's third album, NOT TOO LATE, is perhaps not as extreme as any of those other moves away from her initial comfort zone, but it's a departure nonetheless. Recorded by Jones and longtime collaborator Lee Alexander in their home studio and featuring only self-penned material, NOT TOO LATE is far less polished than Jones's previous records, with many songs featuring little more than the singer's familiar croon, a Floyd Cramer-influenced piano, and Alexander's subtle bass. Not quite jazz, country, or pop, NOT TOO LATE fuses all of Jones's influences into an immediately identifiable whole. It's easily her most mature and personal album to date.
Recoils from fame usually aren't as subdued as Norah Jones' third album, Not Too Late, but such understatement is customary for this gentlest of singer/songwriters. Not Too Late may not be as barbed or alienating as either In Utero or Kid A -- it's not an ornery intensification of her sound nor a chilly exploration of its furthest limits -- but make no mistake, it is indeed a conscious abdication of her position as a comfortable coffeehouse crooner and a move toward art for art's sake. And, frankly, who can blame Jones for wanting to shake off the Starbucks stigmata? Although a large part of her appeal has always been that she sounds familiar, like a forgotten favorite from the early '70s, Jones is too young and too much of a New York bohemian to settle into a role as a nostalgia peddler, so it made sense that she started to stretch a little after her 2004 sophomore set, Feels Like Home, proved that her surprise blockbuster 2002 debut, Come Away with Me, was no fluke. First, there was the cabaret country of her Little Willies side band, then there was her appearance on gonzo art rocker Mike Patton's Peeping Tom project, and finally there's this hushed record, her first containing nothing but original compositions. It's also her first album recorded without legendary producer Arif Mardin, who helmed her first two albums, giving them a warm, burnished feel that was nearly as pivotal to Jones' success has her sweet, languid voice. Mardin died in the summer of 2006, and in his absence, Jones recorded Not Too Late at the home studio she shares with her collaborator, bassist and boyfriend Lee Alexander. Although it shares many of the same sonic characteristics as Jones' first two albums, Not Too Late boasts many subtle differences that add up to a distinctly different aesthetic. Jones and Alexander have stripped Norah's music to its core. Gone are any covers of pop standards, gone are the studio prRolling Stone (p.66) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[S]he's quirkier lyrically than any of her helpmates. And she remains pop's nicest superstar..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.122) - "NOT TOO LATE has a slightly, rougher, home-studio sound....[With] slow, gorgeous dream-pop ballads..." -- Grade: B-
Q (p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[An] understated blend of country, folk, jazz and soul....Simple songs, lovingly crafted and sweetly sung."
Uncut (p.75) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[S]omething altogether fresh....Just like that, Jones transforms herself into the gentlest of cutting-edge artists."
Down Beat (p.58) - "Jones still favors gentle love songs, tunes streaked with a mix of nostalgia and hope, and her elegant amalgam of acoustic pop, soft focus country and polished blues still goes down like a spoonful of sugar."
No Depression (p.108) - "NOT TOO LATE operates from an intimate stance.....Acoustic textures and bone-dry vocals draw the focus to the tune..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Jones has reclaimed her music on her own terms, establishing a new level of artistry with a fascinating line in subversion of the politest kind."