Multiple Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Norah Jones has released her fourth studio album on Blue Note Records. Jones wrote nearly all of the songs in the past two years since completing tours in support of her 2007 global chart-topping, U.S. double-platinum album Not Too Late.

Beloved by fans for her sultry vocals and jazz-informed, piano-driven pop songwriting, Jones has taken a new direction on the as-yet-untitled album, seeing it as a chance to experiment with different sounds and an opportunity to work with a new set of collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, and Modest Mouse among others. Jones also enlisted several songwriting collaborators, including Ryan Adams and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, as well as her frequent partner Jesse Harris.

“I knew I wanted to try some different things on this album,” Jones says. “I’d been playing with the same musicians for a long time. We’re all still friendly and I hope we play together again, but it felt like a good time to work with new people and experiment with different sounds. As far as a producer, I wanted someone who could take me out of my comfort zone and find the right musicians to capture what I wanted to do with this collection of songs. I got in touch with Jacquire initially because he engineered one of my favorite records of all time, Tom Waits’ Mule Variations. He was really eager to do it and we got along really well, which was important.”

King helped Jones put together a new group of musicians to perform on the album, including drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer). Jones and King tailored the songs to the musicians’ strengths. “I think the record sounds different due to the variety of musicians we used,” Jones says, “I knew I wanted to play with grooves more than I have on previous albums. Some of these new songs lent themselves to having driving rhythms underneath.”

Another noticeable change on Jones’ upcoming album is that she plays mostly guitar. “I actually write more on guitar than I do on piano,” she says. “It just felt more natural for me to play it on these songs.”

Since coming on the scene in 2002, Jones’ has sold a collective 36 million albums worldwide. Her three studio albums, 2002’s eight-time Grammy Award-winning Come Away With Me, 2004’s Feels Like Home, and 2007’s Not Too Late have each topped the Billboard top 200 album charts in the U.S. and gone to No. 1 around the world. All three have been certified multi-platinum, while Come Away With Me has been certified diamond. Since 2007, Jones has collaborated with a number of artists, including Herbie Hancock, Talib Kweli, Willie Nelson, Q-Tip, Irma Thomas, and Andy Samberg’s comedy troupe The Lonely Island. She has also contributed to various soundtracks, including Ken Burns’ The War, Ethan Hawke’s The Hottest State, and Wong Kar-wai’s My Blueberry Nights, as well as the Fats Domino tribute album Goin’ Home. In 2007, Jones starred opposite Jude Law in My Blueberry Nights and made a cameo in this year’s season finale of 30 Rock. Also this year, Jones was featured as a flagship artist on Apple’s GarageBand, presenting a tutorial on how to perform her song “Thinking About You.”

LISTEN FOR NORAH'S NEW SONG, "CHASING PIRATES" ON WLOQ!

 

 

 

It looks like the Faces, a ’70s British group that rose to fame on the strength of vocalist Rod Stewart, will be reunited for a tour next year. There’s only one problem – Stewart hasn’t committed to the tour yet and is expected to be performing in 2010 to support his latest CD, Soulbook.

Faces, featuring original members Ron Wood, Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones, reunited on October 25 in London for a benefit show and featured three guest vocalists, including Mick Hucknall, founder, leader and vocalist for Simply Red. McLagan tells Billboard that the band, whose best-known songs are “Stay With Me” and “Ooh La La,” is likely to ask Hucknall if he wants to be part of the project, but expect to approach other singers as well.

“If we don’t do it very soon, one of us is gonna check out,” McLagan says. “I’m 64 … We’ve been waiting and waiting for Rod to say yes; now he’s finally said no. He’s busy doing other (stuff). So we’re gonna do it.”

Hucknall does have other duties planned for 2010. He and Simply Red will be performing worldwide in what Hucknall says are the final performances of the band. He plans to concentrate on his solo career.

 

 

 Grammy Winner Corinne Bailey Rae Schedules TV appearance's...

Grammy winner Corinne Bailey Rae will kick off a series of five national television appearances with a performance on the Today show on January 26, coinciding with the release of her latest album, The Sea.

She’ll also appear on Tavis Smiley January 27, Ellen January 28 and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson January 29. She will also perform March 1 on Late Show with David Letterman.

“Closer,” the first single from Corinne’s upcoming CD, will be the Feedback Track this weekend on the Smooth Jazz Top 20.

Fans who pre-order The Sea on the iTunes Music Store will receive the bonus track “Little Wing” and, exclusive to the pre-order, “It Be’s That Way Sometime.”

The 30-year-old singer’s 2006 self-titled CD featured the hits “Put Your Records On,” “Like a Star” and “Trouble Sleeping.” In addition, she has hit the smooth jazz charts with two collaborations, the first with “River” from Herbie Hancock’s Grammy-winning River: The Joni Letters. The second was “Free,” a song from an album by bassist Marcus Miller.

The Sea will officially be released on February 2.