Like a broken clock which is correct two times a day, the Grammys occasionally get it right.
When the soundtrack O Brother Where Art Thou? cleaned up in 2002, they got it right. When in 2001 Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now won for best traditional pop vocal album, they got it right. When in 1996 Joni Mitchell's Turbulent Indigo won for best pop album, they got it right. When Bonnie Raitt cleaned up that one year, partly for her then current work and partly for her rich history, they got it right. When almost every album the Pat Metheny Group puts out wins for best contemporary jazz album, they get it right. When Shawn Colvin won for best contemporary folk album in 1988, and then ten years later, for song of the year and record of the year for Sunny Came Home, they got it right. When, that same year, James Taylor's Hourglass won for best pop album, and Alison Krauss/Union Station won best bluegrass album, So Long, So Wrong, and then in 2002, again for best bluegrass album, New Favorite, they got it right. There are countless other examples, and, of course, countless examples of when they got it wrong. This year Norah Jones cleaned up, and in my view, they got it right. She has a beautiful, natural, graceful and genuinely soulful voice, thankfully devoid of the hyper-melismatic mannerisms so many others are afflicted with these days. She plays great piano ... her sly, elegant touch and hip self-accompaniment calls to mind Nat King Cole. She writes tuneful, smart songs, and chooses tuneful smart songs of others, including chestnuts from Hoagy Carmichael and Hank Williams. Her approach is subtle, intelligent, heartfelt, and eminently musical. She seems to be truly down to earth and has uncompromising artistic integrity. I think we will hear great things from her to come. -Fred
