The dream of every producer is to walk into a recording studio and hear someone so different, so special that he knows immediately…this is the one!
In late 2000, Jay got a call from a friend at Blue Note asking, "Would you record some demos with a new artist?" Jay replied, "Sure. Let's use Sorcerer Sound." Initially, Jay drove down to Sorcerer Sound with the artist to check it out. Then, he went to Brooklyn to see a rehearsal with her band. Jay recalls, "It was incredible. Surreal. I mean every single song was remarkable."
What Norah Jones knew when she chose to work with Jay was that he worked on some amazing records. Especially Etta James' first Grammy winner, Mystery Lady: The Songs Of Billie Holiday, which in Norah's words, 'influenced her greatly growing up'.
In October of 2000, Jay spent two days recording and mixing 13 songs as demos with Norah and her band.
At first, someone else was brought in to produce a finished album. Blue Note rejected the initial version of the record. Norah's manager then asked Blue Note to have Jay re-record the music and mix the album with Arif Mardin as producer. Back to Sorcerer they went, following the same exact blueprint Jay laid down when he made the demos. They tracked a week, overdubbed in 2 to 3 days and mixed at Sear Sound in August 2001.
The Norah Jones debut release came out in February of 2002. Led by Jay's co-production of the breakout radio single, "Don't Know Why," Come Away With Me took six months to sell 500,000 units. Since that date, it sold 20 million-plus copies worldwide.
Jay won four Grammys for that album including Engineer of the Year, Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Pop Vocal of the Year. All told Jay has 8 Grammys.
Norah's follow up album, Feels Like Home, which was recorded and mixed by Jay, has sold over 1.2 million in its first week alone and 10 million copies worldwide. On this release, Jay worked with members of The Band (Levon Helm and Garth Hudson) as well as Dolly Parton.
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