Norah Jones Day Breaks 2016

So here we get Norah Jones going back for a little jazz credibility. The sly mix of pop, jazz, and a dash of country that made her debut the biggest thing since sliced bread, and her lovely vocal delivery and impressively nuanced piano playing all have left us with high expectations.

She followed the debut (Come Away With Me 2002) with two more lovely outings (Feels Like Home 2004, Not Too Late 2007) that felt alternatively like growth some times and treading water other times. The Fall 2009 came next, and it really showed a different side of Jones that I thought was invigorating. More guitar, more pop, more ever so slightly faster tempos, and some of her best writing. I wasn't so thrilled with Little Broken Hearts 2012, and while it was generally well-received, I never thought Danger Mouse was the right partner.

This new one is being touted as a return to the form of her debut. There's still some pop songs, and a bit of country, but she's mostly playing jazz on this one, and it works to her advantage.

Burn opens the record with a slinky tune enhanced by Wayne Shorter on sax and Peter Rehm's Hammond organ. Tragedy features a fine Jones piano figure and a nice lyric. Flipside brings out a rocking Wulitzer piano applied to a perfect pop song. Like a great lost Melody Gardot song, It's A Wonderful Time For Love shows off Jones in trio mode. The piano trio plus string quartet arrangement of And Then There Was You is just plain pretty. Side one closes with Neil Young's Don't Be Denied, and while it's not Young's greatest song, at least we don't have to hear him do it.

Side two is rock solid, with opener Day Break featuring the string quartet and Wayne Shorter again in big dramatic beauty. Horace Silver's Peace gets the trio treatment plus Shorter again, and he smokes it. Brain Blade on drums and John Pettucci on bass are great here and on several other tracks. On Once I Had A Laugh, she turns a seemingly lightweight composition into big fun with a brassy horn section. Sleeping Wild is nice, and is saved by the string quartet coda. Carry On is an upbeat tune with a familiar Jones melody, and it holds up. She closes with Ellington's Fleurette Africaine, again with just a piano trio plus Shorter's sax, and as she hums and moans, the band spreads out for some real deal jazz.

Bringing in Wayne Shorter on four tracks helps to make it sound like the jazz-intentioned outing it is. But the song writing is some of Jones best ever, and she uses two new writing partners in Sarah Oda and Peter Rehm who must take some of the credit for the quality on display here. A few well-chosen covers, and heck, what else do you possibly want from the girl?

Norah Jones never went away, and now she's back.