Norah Jones, Shankar object to movie

[JSngry]

Well, if I can get a souvenir DVD memento treasure keepsake afterwards (with sound, of course) to help me cherish the moment forever, I just might go. "Transient" media is going to become the collecting craze of the 21st century, so I might as well get a piece while I can.

Which is also the thought I've been having about Norah. But Nick's got this grin that tells me that he's been down that road before, so I dunno...

Edited October 8, 2003 by JSngry

[Jazzmoose]

A new couple just moved into my neighborhood. Their names are Nick and Norah Shankar. Nice folks, young, always singing out in the yard while they do stuff. This afternoon, they sent me a note inviting me over for homemade Ravi-oli (their spelling). I'm kinda nervous about where they got the meat, but I don't want to risk alienating potentially good neighbors. What do you think I should do?

Don't worry about it, Jim; I'm sure it's safe. Wait a minute, did you happen to see a small dog, named Rasta or something like that? If not...

[Lazaro Vega]

Norah Jones attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in northern lower Michigan when she was in her teens (she made a return visit this past summer: anyone out there attend?) One of her former instructors, Paul Brewer, a trombonist and head of jazz studies at a small Catholic college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, taught Jones for a substantial period at Interlochen. He said of all the female students who aspired towards a career in music, Norah would have been the last on his list for superstardom. Quiet and serious about music, I think is how he described her, then recounted lessons in (I can't remember exactly) the weight of her voice and it's presence equaling and balancing the weight of the big band as they performed "Deed I Do." So the call and response had equal musical presence between voice and the big band; working on the transitions between instrumental and vocal passages...you know. Given this was right after the Grammy's it was interesting to hear. In any case Brewer talked about Jones music, and how he and his pianist/composer wife Robin were proud of her success. The Shankar item was a footnote.

Then this. Look what success has wrought. Somebody trying to make it their success.

It seems to me the Norah Jones record brought country influences into jazz (Atkins, others had it the other way) and in a sense made a new category in the music, or at least a successful crossover place that was seldom trod, Dodd. Don’t you sense that? It was a pop record, yes, as opposed to strictly jazz, but I’ll play her “Nearness of You,” one of my wife’s favorites.

As for this article, I don’t think the pride the Brewers were showing had anything to do with this kind of “success.”

[DTMX]

Tonight I'm going to see Ravi and Anoushka Shankar perform at Emory University. That should be enough sitar to hold me for awhile. I hope they play my favorite raga - the long droning one.

Then tomorrow night it's Jason Moran with Sam Rivers.