Norah Jones 'My Blueberry Nights' album

On February 5, 2008, Blue Note Records will release My Blueberry Nights, music from the new motion picture by director Wong Kar Wai (2046, In The Mood For Love, Happy Together). The first-ever English film by the acclaimed Hong Kong director, My Blueberry Nights is a romantic drama set as an American road movie starring Norah Jones in her acting debut, along with a stellar cast featuring Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman. The Weinstein Company will release My Blueberry Nights in U.S. theaters on February 13, 2008.

The soundtrack album is an impressive collection that stands on its own apart from the film. It features a wide swath of American music both new and old that touches upon R&B, Soul, Rock, Folk and Jazz, including “The Story,” a new song by Norah Jones based on her experience in the film, as well as music by Cat Power, Otis Redding, Ruth Brown, Mavis Staples, Amos Lee, Cassandra Wilson, and instrumental selections from the score by Ry Cooder.

In a review of My Blueberry Nights' debut as the Opening Night Film of the 60th Cannes Film Festival in May, The Hollywood Reporter praised Jones' performance, declaring it “an auspicious acting debut...The glue here is Jones, who holds a wispy, wistful film together with a deeply felt, unselfconscious performance that strikes the right notes without ever falling into repetition or banality. She brings her singer's talent of knowing when to go for emotions and when to hold back to her acting. It's a remarkably assured work.”

In the film, Elizabeth (Jones) is a disenchanted young woman who embarks on a soul-searching journey to distance herself from a broken heart. As emotional wounds begin to fade, Elizabeth's experiences with a series of disconnected strangers lead to new and unexpected chapters in her life. From the poetic musings of a late-night café owner (Law), to the propositions of a down-on-her-luck gambler (Portman), to the broken bond between a troubled cop (Strathairn) and his rebellious wife (Weisz), these individuals redefin Elizabeth's perspectives on life, relationships and, ultimately, her own identity. Shot across the United States in New York, Memphis, Nevada, California, and along the legendary Route 66, the film is an intimate tale of love and self-discovery that features Wong's trademark visual flair and colorful characters.

“I got a call that Wong Kar Wai was looking for me,” says Jones, recounting how she ended up in her first-ever acting role. “I really didn't know anything about him, so I watched In The Mood For Love and thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I thought maybe he wanted music so I had lunch with him and he asked me if I wanted to be in the movie!”

“I was first introduced to Norah through her music,” explains Wong. “As a matter of fact, I didn't even know what she looked like at the time. However, her voice intrigued me. It was so visual that it gave me a very specific image of her. I found Norah to be a natural actress who also allows her instincts to guide her.”

In between shoots for the film, Jones had managed to find time to record Not Too Late, her third album for Blue Note, which was released in January 200 to critical acclaim, spending three weeks at #1 on the Billboard chart and going on to sell over four million copies worldwide. Originally, it was agreed that the multi-Grammy Award winner wouldn't contribute any music to the film's soundtrack so that she could focus on acting instead. However, at the last minute Wong changed his mind.

“He asked if I had any songs that would go with the soundtrack, and actually there was this song I wrote one morning at 6 a.m. after we had finished shooting in New York City, and I came home and I wasn't tired yet,” Jones explains. “I went into my piano room which faces east and I watched the sun come up. It was so beautiful. I wrote that song that morning, very quickly, it just kind of came out. And then when he asked if I had any songs to contribute, that song made sense because it definitely was influenced by my experience in the film.”

“The Story”-which opens both the film and soundtrack album-reflects upon Jones' apprehension as a first-time actor (“I don't know how to begin”) and Wong's notoriously improvisational style of script-writing on the fly (“I don't know how it will end”). It's the sole new song on a diverse soundtrack featuring new and classic American music that Jones herself had a hand in selecting.

“[Wong] asked me before we started shooting if I would give him some music choices. He gave me a stack of photographs from their location scout and said to pick some music that goes along with the pictures. So I picked music that I already loved and also thought would fit. We ended up using a lot of the music during shooting. He would use the music to set up the mood or get the timing right.”

As Wong writes in the album's liner notes: “In order to understand how [Elizabeth] might travel from one ocean to the other, I took that long journey myself, not once but three times-three different routes from New York to Santa Monica… Mile after mile, the view outside my window and the music from the car stereo synched in unexpected ways to give me my first glimpse into the landscape of Elizabeth's heart. These trips not only shaped the story of MBN, but the soundtrack as well.”

Wong is no stranger to using American music in his films (consider his prominent use of The Mamas and The Papas' “California Dreamin'” in 1994's Chungking Express), typically setting a classic American song against a Hong Kong backdrop, a jarring technique that beautifully expressed his character's isolation or longing.

The opposite is true of My Blueberry Nights, with the music going hand-in-hand with the setting and perfectly capturing the landscapes and emotions. Most of the songs on the soundtrack are rooted in various American musical styles including R&B, Soul, Rock, Folk and Jazz, and they all reflect upon love and loss from different perspectives, whether it be Cassandra Wilson's spacious, dreamy take on Neil Young's “Harvest Moon,” Mavis Staples' driving rendition of the traditional “Eyes on the Prize” (which was produced by Ry Cooder), or Cat Power's sweet sad updating of Memphis soul on “Living Proof” and “The Greatest” (Chan Marshall also makes a cameo appearance in the film).

Amos Lee's soulful “Skipping Stone” acknowledges the hurt of heartbreak (“I don't know if I can do this alone / After all our sweet love has flown”), but almost seems to be reassuring Elizabeth's character that “Lovers will come / Lovers will go.”

Two classics-Otis Redding's soaring “Try A Little Tenderness” and Ruth Brown's regretful “Looking Back”-perfectly complement the heart-wrenching story set in Memphis of a lost love between an alcoholic cop who desperately struggles to hold on to his estranged wife despite her cold determination to begin a new life for herself.

The musical glue of the film and soundtrack album, however, are the instrumental selections from the score by Ry Cooder (Paris, Texas, Buena Vista Social Club), roots rock miniatures that convey the spaciousness and moodiness of the film. Three of Cooder's instrumentals appear on the album-“Ely Nevada,” “Long Ride” and “Busride”-as well as a lovely instrumental piece by Oscar-winning Argentinian composer Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel) entitled “Pajaros.”

biography
Norah Jones, the talented singer, songwriter and pianist, who has won over the world with her signature style, unveils her new album, Not Too Late. Her third outing for Blue Note Records, the album is a 13-track gem that features, for the first time, Jones singing a full assortment of her own compositions that plumb the depths of emotion with subtle levity and probe the mind-set of living in a troubled world.

"Three or four years ago, I was telling people that the one thing I wanted to get better at was songwriting," says the New York-based artist who's a multi-Grammy winner and whose albums are multi-platinum selling. Jones notes that she didn't set out to write all the songs, but that during her last tour, she "got into a songwriting groove that continued when I got back home. I love to interpret other songwriters' music, but I don't always feel as close to them as my own songs. These songs are much more honest, closer to my gut; this record is much more personal."

Produced by Lee Alexander, longtime bassist in Jones' band, who also shares songwriting credit on many of the tracks, Not Too Late displays a self-assured maturity, with songs that range in tempo and style while also maintaining the fundamental signature of her heartfelt delivery. The 27-year-old Jones acknowledges that she's grown as a songwriter, noting that the songs from her first two albums were among the first she had ever written. "They're a bit elementary when I look back at them," she says. "These new songs probably have more of my personality because I think they are a little more complex. Some of these songs are dark and cynical, but there's also a sense of hope. That's why the album is named Not Too Late. I liked the positive message."

Jones burst upon the pop music world with her auspicious debut, Come Away With Me, released by Blue Note in 2002. No one could have anticipated how much the then-22-year-old's sultry and alluring music that melded jazz, country, blues and folk would resonate around the globe. The album of originals (by her as well as by friends such as Jesse Harris) and covers (written by Hank Williams, Hoagy Carmichael and J.D. Loudermilk) has sold almost 10 million copies in the U.S. and over 20 million worldwide and swept the Grammy Awards in 2003. The album established Jones as a star destined for a long career of pop music artistry. She proved to be an original with a singular voice that's fragile, inviting and bittersweet with equal measures of wistfulness and reverie.

Two years later Jones followed up with the superb Feels Like Home, another engaging and heartfelt album that—like her first—was the perfect blend of originals by Norah and her bandmates and well-chosen covers. Feels Like Home debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, going on to sell over 4 million units in the U.S. and over 10 million worldwide. Both albums were overseen by legendary producer Arif Mardin, who passed away in June 2006.

For Not Too Late, Jones says the sessions were "fun, relaxed, just easy," in large part because most of the tracking was recorded in her and Alexander's home studio. "This album was made so differently than the first two," she says. "For those we booked a studio for a week to record, then returned for a week a few months later. That was great, but there was always a deadline, so we had a limited amount of time. For this album, there was no pressure, no deadline. Blue Note didn't even know about it; we were just doing it to have some fun and to see what would come of it."

Jones explains that many of the sessions were recorded at the spur of the moment. "It was mostly asking friends, 'Hey, are you in town tonight? Great. Come on over.' It was very loose and for the most part involved friends and people that friends recommended." In addition to Jones' core band of Alexander, guitarist Adam Levy, vocalist Daru Oda and drummer Andy Borger, guests on the album include M. Ward and Richard Julian on backing vocals, Jesse Harris on rhythm guitar, Tony Scherr on electric guitar, Larry Goldings on Hammond B-3 organ, Bill McHenry on tenor saxophone, and cellists Jeffrey Zeigler of the Kronos Quartet and Julia Kent.

As for the absence of Mardin, Jones says, "It would have been nice to have that third ear, that third opinion. Arif always loomed over us in such a wonderful way. He was more of a nurturer than a taskmaster producer. He heard all our ideas and would make suggestions, usually very minimally. And he always fit in with our crew. He was our buddy."

While Jones was touring in 2004 and 2005, she brought along an acoustic guitar, upon which she wrote most of her songs, including "Until the End," conceived on an island in the South Pacific on a rainy day during a tour break, and the ballad "Rosie's Lullaby" ("It's so slow that you feel like you're underwater," she says), penned in Australia. "The guitar is simple and a lot easier to carry than a piano," she says. "I found that I started to write more with the guitar." After she got off the road, she was eager to get those songs down on tape. Six of the songs written on the road are on Not Too Late, while others were written at home. Most of the songs were "pulled into better shape," says Jones, by Alexander. "Mostly I'd write the songs and Lee would tweak the lyrics. He's wonderful at that."

As for the role of piano on Not Too Late, Jones says, "The piano is always loud in the mix, but I've never been into it being the main rhythm instrument unless we're playing something funky. I've always liked the guitar as the rhythmic instrument." She pauses, then notes, "And I even get to play the guitar on the album." She plays electric on the striking tune "Broken," which also features Alexander's "bass extravaganza," as Jones calls it, where he overdubs 11 tracks of pizzicato and bowed bass. She also plays acoustic guitar on "Wake Me Up," a slow and touching number that features Alexander's lap steel cries. Interestingly, the leadoff track of the album, "Wish I Could," is played without piano. It's a swaying melancholic beauty played in waltz time, with Harris on guitar and Zeigler on cello.

Jones says that while she enjoys writing/singing love songs, she's stretching beyond that scenario. "I like writing songs that are not so cut-and-dried," she says, "songs with a twist to them. And it's hard not to be influenced by the news." So, on "Wish I Could," there's a reference to a former lover sent off to war, and on the dark-clouded, dream-shrouded "My Dear Country," Jones grievingly sings of how there are far scarier things than Halloween. Also, in the quietly romantic "The Sun Doesn't Like You," a tune Jones started while on tour in Brazil, a sense of intrigue pervades the lyrics: "We can build a fire/In the open field past the razor wire/Sneak by the dogs when they go to sleep/Bring part of yourself that you'll let me keep."

Not everything was written on the road. The lightly melodic "Not My Friend" came to Jones after she watched a movie in bed. "I don't think I ever did that before," she says. "Usually I like to sit and think about the film afterwards. But this time I wrote." She notes that she watched the film again just to make sure she hadn't lifted the tune from the soundtrack. She hadn't. She adds, "This song was fun to record because we flipped the tape around to get that backwards sound on Adam's guitar."

One of the first songs Jones wrote for the new album is "Be My Somebody," a mid-tempo tune that broke through a writer's block while she was home alone for a stretch while Alexander was away producing Amos Lee's debut album. "I was depressed and I couldn't write," says Jones. "A friend who I was hanging out with gave me some good advice and once that song was done the rest came out a little easier." One of the last songs to be finished was the title track, a hope for people to change despite hearts pumped dry of blood and smoke-filled lungs. Jones wrote the music and most of the lyrics a couple of years ago, but only close to end of the sessions for Not Too Late did she put the finishing touches on the song with Alexander's help.

While Jones wrote most of the music, the Kurt Weill-ish sounding "Sinkin' Soon," the most unusual and fun piece on the CD, was composed by Alexander with her supplying the bridge. "We weren't able to play the song the whole way through before recording it, so we all went out to dinner and drank some beer," says Jones. "I guess we needed a little bit of that drunken sailor vibe because we came back and recorded this on the first take." J. Walter Hawkes lends the trombone solo, "We asked him to stop by because he's an old friend and a total character. His plunger solo was perfect for this song." Also added later were backing vocals from M. Ward and Tom Waits-like pot-and-pan percussion, including Jones' teapot that didn't survive the session intact.

Two numbers on Not Too Late hark back to Jones' early writing life. The Wurlitzer-vibed, sweet-beauty "Thinking About You" was written in 1999 with Ilhan Ersahin of Wax Poetics when she was playing with the band. "That song has always been in the back of my mind," says Jones. "I always thought of it as too much of a pop song for me, I thought maybe someone else could record it, and we even tried to do a version of it for the last album, but it sounded too country-rock. It's nice to know that we've finally found a way to make it work. When seven years go by and you still like the song, that's a good thing."

Another oldie from Jones' notebook is the short, whimsical ditty, "Little Room," written before the first album when she was living in a "teensy" East Village studio with bars on the only window. "It was a funky little room," says Jones, and it was also, as the lyrics point out, a small haven for big love. Oda supplies the whistle solo in the song.

Not Too Late strikingly stands as the next step in the artistic evolution of Norah Jones. With it, she has defied the flash-in-the-pan fortune of so many of her chart peers, who are here today and gone tomorrow. Jones is here to stay, and Not Too Late is further proof of the greening of her career.

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Norah Jones - My Blueberry Nights