Anniversary Edition of Norah Jones’ Hit Debut Reveals ‘Album That Nobody Heard’

By DownBeat I Mar. 1, 2022

*Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition* includes 22 previously unreleased tracks by singer-songwriter and pianist Norah Jones.
(Photo: Courtesy Blue Note)

Blue Note/UMe will release Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition on April 29. The 44-track collection captures the emergence of singer-songwriter and pianist Norah Jones and reveals the full story of the making of her now-classic debut album.

In addition to a remaster of the original album, which was produced by Arif Mardin and released on Feb. 26, 2002, the Super Deluxe Edition also includes 22 previously unreleased tracks, including the original demos that Jones submitted to Blue Note, the complete First Session demos she made after being signed and the first version of the album she made at Allaire Studios with producer Craig Street — much of which has never been heard before.

A previously unreleased alternate version of Jones’ song “Come Away With Me” from the Allaire sessions is currently available to stream or download, and her demo version of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” is slated for release as a single on March 18.

Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition was produced by Eli Wolf and will be released digitally and physically as a four-LP vinyl set and a three-CD set, both of which come in premium packaging with a substantial booklet featuring new liner notes by Jones and rare session photos. Standalone one-LP and one-CD versions of the remastered original album will also be released. All formats are available for pre-order now.

When Blue Note released Come Away With Me in 2002, it wasn’t regarded as a jazz album, nor did it resemble anything else on the pop landscape at the time. The album steadily grew into a global phenomenon, reaching #1 in 20 countries, selling nearly 30 million copies and sweeping the 2003 Grammy Awards with eight wins including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.

Regarding the process of preparing the Allaire Studios recordings for release two decades later, Jones said, “It has been a bit like time-traveling to some alternate universe of the album that nobody ever heard. When I approached Craig to tell him about it, he suggested we ask Tony Maserati to balance the recordings. This brought my vocal to the front more, and I can finally hear my little 22-year-old self trying new things and fitting into the music around me just fine. Revisiting these sessions after listening to them only once in the last 20 years has been a lovely surprise. I’m so glad to finally reunite with Craig and get a chance to finish what we started together.” DB