This early Christmas music release actually improves on the traditional holiday template, not because there’s significant diversion from the form, but rather because the material offers the potential for a longer shelf life overall. 

Norah Jones' strength is taking material that transcends categorization and phrasing it with a vocal purity that practically achieves transparency — as if hers was an artless art, a window to the soul.  

Esoteric titles—references to math and numerology—conjure images from Darren Aronofsky’s nihilistic Pi, Max Cohen ambling down gray streets or hunched over his machine, madly calculating, programming, deciphering.

Rich’s varied template -- he worked in rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, soul and gospel -- is what makes Feel Like Going Home such a wonderfully diverse record.