Norah Jones

The willowy jazz-based music of songwriter, singer and pianist Norah Jones can change a lot from one release to the next. Jones herself has changed a lot, too. She was born in Manhattan in 1979 (her father was Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar), and when her 2002 debut, Come Away with Me, hit, Jones became a diamond-certified artist—shy, sometimes wanting to fade into the background, yet huge. Her voice, tinged with smoke and yearning, tied the album's country, folk roc and Great American Songbook sounds together and felt new and familiar at the same time. Since then, she's become comfortable in multiple settings, including with collective bands like The Little Willies, El Madmo and Puss N Boots. She has also become a versatile collaborator, working with folks like Ray Charles, Dolly Parton, Belle and Sebastian and Q-Tip. Her disarming piano playing, as loose with the beat as Willie Nelson's voice ever gets, is funny one minute and weeping a heartbeat later. On 2020's Pick Me Up off the Floor, Jones offers a sometimes-dark cycle of songs about loss and loneliness and living in the moment, a testament frequently tinged with gospel.