Ask just about any fan of Norah Jones what they like about her so much and they'll tell you her music relaxes them. It's soothing, suggesting a certain feeling of affirmation and reassurance.
Which makes for an interesting conundrum on her current tour in support of new album "The Fall" that brought her to a sold-out Plaza Theatre on a very windy Thursday night.
How does Jones square the breathy warmth of signature hits like "Come Away With Me" and "Don't Know Why" with the loneliness, longing, heartbreak and disillusionment articulated so effectively on the new album?
Answer: She made the older songs in the 90-minute performance conform to the new ones.
"Don't Know Why" was transformed from a comfy song of innocent, wine-drenched regret into a sad reflection on an opportunity missed, accentuated by her acoustic piano work and the soft harmonies of backup singer Sasha Dobson and bassist Gus Seyffert.
""Come Away With Me," by contrast, closed out the artful 90-minute performance on a more upbeat note, a gentle reassurance that all those songs about heartbreak and hurt that preceded it are just maps leading back to happiness, balance and, yes, as she sang with refreshing humor on "Man of the Hour," the love of a good, meat-eating dog.
An artist of Jones' considerable mettle doesn't go through a breakup after a long relationship, like she did with former bassist Lee Alexander, and not write an album's worth of songs about it. Nor is someone like Norah Jones likely to pretend it never happened and just play the hits.
So she did the logical thing, aesthetically speaking, putting together an entirely new band, including former Blasters guitarist Smokey Hormel and journeyman drummer Joey Waronker. And she placed the emphasis squarely on the new songs, featuring 11 of its 13 songs on Thursday night, including six straight to open the show.
It's a gamble foisting so much new and probably unknown material on an audience. But to her credit, the tasteful, restrained nature of the performance had an almost mesmerizing effect. To the audience's credit, it sat and paid attention, as if riveted, and allowed Jones the indulgence with a minimum of smile-inducing catcalls and requests.
It felt like the makings of a love affair between the former Texan and a city where she'd visited, but never played before.
Of the new stuff, the subtle sarcasm and country lilt of "Tell Yer Mama" made for an attention-grabbing opener. First single "Chasing Pirates" had more muscle, while the willowy waltz "You Ruined Me" was even better than the already impressive recorded version. "Stuck" added some needed dynamism to the last part of the show and allowed guitarist Hormel and keyboardist John Kirby, playing the acoustic piano, to strut their formidable stuff.
Jones threw in some choice covers, including songs by Tom Waits ("Long Way Home") and Neil Young ("Barstool Blues"), and toggled between electric guitar, electric piano and acoustic piano, looking stylish in pink high heels and a purple taffeta dress with a bulbous skirt, the opposite of the jeans and t-shirt look of before. She was her usual low-key self, smiling and laughing in response to the crowd, but speaking only sparingly, letting the music, aided by an imaginative lighting design, to the talking.
Dobson, one of Jones' New York contemporaries and a singer-songwriter in her own right, opened the show with a mood-setting, spare 30-minute set of jazz, country, blues and folk inflected pop-rock songs that suffered slightly from a sense of sameness. Her short set was well-received, as was her comment about the dust, and the quick "bless you" she uttered to a sneezing audience member in between lines of a song.
Jones' career is nothing to sneeze at, not with eight Grammys, 17 million albums sold and a considerable following. With "The Fall" and the tour supporting it, she's proving that she can make mature pop music that's pained, soothing and artful at the same time.
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