29 April 2023
68-year-old iconoclastic songstress RICKIE LEE JONES was once
labeled The Duchess Of Coolsville by Time Magazine (in the late 70s).
The charismatic musician who fused jazz with pop/R&B/folk/ and
soul with style, verve, and bravoure.
Yesterday she released a new album – her 15th – displaying her love
for authentic jazz again with her feverish interpretation of 10 classic jazz
songs from the Great American Songbook. The collection is named
PIECES OF TREASURES.
RLJ: “This album is as much about being human, the view of surviving,
which means aging, and loving relentlessly, as it is about anything. We
love ’til the day we die, love our lives, our families, and finally ourselves.”
Video for ‘Just In Time’ track
Jones‘ sensual voice sounds like she was born with it to sing this kind of late-night musings. Tender, romantic and heartfelt. The images on my screen in my mind show a cozy, smoky little bar with dimmed lights, somewhere in a dark alley in a big city with sexy Jones‘ on a barstool assisted by a pianist, a soft drummer, and a cellist, singing downhearted ballads for a handful of barflies. Wonderful!
Tracklist
01 “Just In Time” (Jule Styne, Betty Comden, Adolph Green)
02 “There Will Never Be Another You” (Harry Warren, Mack Gordon)
03 “Nature Boy” (Eden Ahbez)
04 “One for My Baby” (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer)
05 “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
06 “All the Way” (Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn)
07 “Here’s That Rainy Day” (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke)
08 “September Song” (Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson)
09 “On the Sunny Side Of The Street” (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields)
10 “It’s All In The Game” (Charles G. Dawes, Carl Sigman)
Dim the lights, have a seat, relax, close your eyes and let your thoughts float.