Norah Jones Releases ‘Begin Again’ Singles Collection On Blue Note

Norah Jones has released Begin Again, a collection of singles that gathers seven eclectic songs that Jones has recorded over the past year with collaborators including Jeff Tweedy and Thomas Bartlett.

Begin Again, released by the legendary jazz label Blue Note on 12 April, will be released on 12” vinyl, CD and as a digital album. In advance, Jones released a new track, ‘Just A Little Bit,’ which was produced by Jones and features her on vocals, piano, and organ along with Brian Blade on drums, Christopher Thomas on bass, Dave Guy on trumpet, and Leon Michels on tenor saxophone. You can hear the track below.

Last year, following the 2016 release of her acclaimed album Day Breaks — and the extensive promotional campaign and world tour that accompanied it — Jones quietly returned to the studio with the sole intent of following her muse down creative pathways without any expectations or boundaries. Revelling in the joy and spontaneity of music-making with a true spirit of openness, Jones got together with various friends for brief, largely-improvised sessions to collaborate and experiment.

“I felt inspired to record and try different things,” Jones says, adding that the idea was to make it “quick and fun and easy and low-pressure. It’s a great way to collaborate with other people. Just a day or 3 in the studio and that’s it.”

“I try to go in with a few clips of voice memo ideas to have a jumping off point,” she explains. “With each session the little ideas were definitely with those particular musicians in mind, but the hope is to always create in the moment and with each session there were songs that came out of nothing. I was very open and had no real expectations as far as direction, but each session has exceeded my expectations. It’s been so fun and I feel very inspired right now and love all the different directions this is going.”

The singles Jones began releasing last summer ran the gamut from electronic experiments to starkly acoustic folk ballads to organ-and-horn drenched soul songs. With the addition of three more previously unreleased songs, Begin Again presents seven snapshots of creativity from one of the music world’s most versatile and consistently intriguing artists.

Additionally, Norah Jones has announced summer 2019 North American tour dates following a tour of Australia and New Zealand in April. The first leg of the North American tour will kick off on the East Coast in Pittsburgh on 18 June and includes appearances at jazz festivals in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Saratoga Springs. For tickets and more information, please visit the artist’s official website.

Begin Again is out now. Scroll down to read the full tracklist and buy it here.

Begin Again:

‘My Heart is Full’
‘Begin Again’
‘It Was You’
‘A Song with No Name’
‘Uh Oh’
‘Wintertime’
‘Just a Little Bit’

Format: UK English