Little Miss Sunrise

Jones is known to be sublime on stage,like the lit up doves that hung from the stage ceiling. On Tuesday evening,she did what she is brilliant at — she sang. With abandon. Organised by Mumbai-based Only Much Louder,in the Delhi concert,the pop and jazz diva’s every riff,piano hook and whisper,apart from being flawless,was as honest as it could get. It was as if we were drawn into a world of those old tapes,which spoke to you and made you oblivious to the rest of the world.

After a deftly enunciated performance by M Ward,whose finger-picking skills on the guitar dominated his vocals,Jones entered the room with a shy “hello” and went straight into an upbeat Happy pill from her last album “Little Broken Hearts”,followed by What am I to you,the track that just melted into different chords. Dressed in a black-and-white dress,the only bling on Jones was a pair of fiery orange shoes,and of course,her husky tone ,which created an ethereal haze for the next 90 minutes. Unlike past concerts at this hall,known for its bad acoustics,the sound was phenomenal.

Ably backed by her quartet,Jones knew how to keep her fans (who cheered her every little gesture,including everytime she sipped coffee) engaged — talking to them,switching from keyboards to the guitar to the piano and then back to a guitar. “It’s red. It dresses up anything,” said Jones,after she strapped herself with a guitar and belted out Rosie — one of those soft lullabies,followed by the dark and mean Little broken hearts and Tom Wait’s wonderful Long way home.

When there were shouts of Sunrise and Come away,she said “We will get there,but before that…” and she launched into Hoagy Carmichael’s Nearness of you,an intimate clubby version of the original jazz staple. It was here that she sang with absolute abandon,followed by the famous Don’t know why.

Jones then brought in country music as she sang the acoustic version of

Sunrise preceded by Creepin in with a little bit of cello and accordion thrown in. We had high expectations from Sinkin’ stone,which was the only song that did not do as well. But in came her five Grammy haul song,Come away with me,which as the final song had everyone applauding.

We loved her piano hooks,while most were swinging to her country and moving to the guitar reverb. For those who came for serious jazz,she obliged them too. She was never loud,yet she was powerful.

It may sound not-so-right at multiple levels as Jones has always credited her mother Sue Jones for all her training,but this one needs to be said — it was just like her father. Close to perfect.