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WILKES-BARRE — Like the deeply talented and multi-faceted songstress she is, Norah Jones put on an astounding display of versatility and soulfulness in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, playing songs that spanned several genres of music and treating concert-goers to her unique brand of intricate songwriting.
The nine-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter kicked off her fall tour at the F.M. Kirby Center and, backed by members of The Candles, performed blues, jazz and country hits, even decorating her set with a few choice covers.
The daughter of famed sitar player Ravi Shankar, Jones has made several acclaimed albums and has a quiver full of original songs that fans adore, but she led off the show with a cover of Hank Williams’ “Cold, Cold Heart.” The jazzy interpretation of the 1951 song showed the expertise of her backing musicians, especially Josh Lattanzi who played a driving double bass during the opener.
Lattanzi, front man for The Candles, began the evening on stage with only his acoustic guitar, singing poetic folk tunes over a picking style that vaguely invoked James Taylor. Fitting then was his performance of Taylor’s “You Can Close Your Eyes.”
When other members of The Candles joined him on stage, the four-piece, still two shy of the whole band, put out a fuller Americana sound, which the crowd celebrated with cheers, before taking the stage with Jones and showing their chops, following her through each musical style with precision and deft feel.
With Lattanzi on bass, Greg Wieczorek on drums, Jason Abraham Roberts on lead guitar and Pete Remm on keyboards, the band sounded like it has been backing Jones for a decade judging by its tightness, emotive fills and the well-suited high harmony of Wieczorek’s voice. In reality, the guys have been playing with Jones only since 2012.
Jones didn’t take long to change pace as she performed her part country, part surf-rock tune, “Out On the Road” followed by her slow-blues ballad, “What Am I to You?”
Switching sounds again, the band struck up the vaudevillian sounding, organ-driven tune “Sinkin Soon,” which highlighted Jones’ hypnotically sultry voice. Her vocal power got stronger with every song, filling the theater more with each new verse, and she stepped out from behind her piano in favor of a guitar to play “Lonestar,” one of her country songs.
After letting her country out, Jones performed the song “Black,” a song on which she guest sang when the tune was released on the album “Rome” in 2013. The dreamy sounding, dark pop melody created by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi brought a certain serenity to the room with its thoughtful and beautiful sense of composition. The crowd was quieted only until the song was over; then, it burst forth with applause.
Not to let her blues side be ignored, Jones performed “It’s Gonna Be” a few songs later, featuring swampy, wah-wah augmented guitar playing and weeping organ. Then she paid tribute to the Grateful Dead, playing “Must Have Been the Roses” and explaining she’s been on a “Jerry kick” since the Fare Thee Well shows in Chicago over the summer.
Despite the other greatness, the highlight of the show featured Jones back behind her piano, showing her mastery of the keys and belting out her own songs in her pure, emotionally inspiring voice. “Little Broken Hearts,” “Don’t Know Why” and “Turn Me On” gave devoted fans more than enough reason to cheer and applaud, and they did, shouting “We love you, Norah” as often as infrequent silences permitted.