Rickie Lee Jones, more jazzy than ever with his latest album “Pieces of Treasure”

Rickie Lee Jones has always shown a musical eclecticism in his career, moving from soul to rock, from pop to jazz with disconcerting ease. From her first self-titled album in 1979, the American artist displayed her attraction to jazz through the title Easy Moneyand she even won a Grammy Award in 1990 in this category for her duet with Dr John Makin’ Whoopee. But she had never released a record entirely dedicated to this style.

For Pieces of Treasure, new album released on April 28, Rickie Lee Jones recorded in five days, in Manhattan, ten standards of the American repertoire. From the opening Just in Timewe are immersed in a cozy atmosphere with refined arrangements: the soft brushes on the drums, the crystalline vibraphone of Mike Mainieri and the voice of Jones which seems younger than ever.

“I’m younger than I was last winter,” confesses the singer in the CD booklet. A bath of youth caused by reunions.

A record of friendship

Pieces of Treasure is indeed an opportunity for Rickie Lee Jones to reconnect with producer Russ Titelman who had produced his first two albums, including the legendary Pirates in 1981. It was he who pushed the singer to make a jazz record. He has followed Jones’ career ever since their last collaboration over forty years ago, faithfully listening to her play whenever she passed through New York.

“It was really difficult to work with me on Pirates“, explains Jones. “But this new album is about two friends, just two friends. I think we’ve rekindled a powerful and respectful friendship.”

For his part, Russ Titelman admits to having kept an unfailing admiration for the singer’s voice. “His voice always sounded a little younger than it should”explains the producer, “but on this recording, the aging voice sounds even better to me than the young voice.” He adds : “There’s a resonance in his lower register that wasn’t there before.”

I love young Rickie Lee, but I love the old lady even more

Russ Titelman

Producer of Rickie Lee Jones

An album full of emotion

Pieces of Treasure is not just a record of pure jazz in ternary with hushed piano, and sometimes a few subtle strings or a discreet saxophone. It is also a moment of introspection for Rickie Lee Jones, who displays a radiant face at 68, and whose memoir, Last Chance Texaco, releases in 2021 have been acclaimed. This album of elegant simplicity is above all a deeply emotional collection drawn from his life.

This record is as much about being human, about surviving – which means growing old, and loving relentlessly – as about anything else.

Rickie Lee Jones

about his album “Pieces of Treasure”

This palpable emotion throughout the ten tracks even explodes at the very end of the disc where we hear a few sobs after the last notes of It’s All In the Game. The singer was deeply moved by this moment in the studio.

As for the song nature boyshe reminded him of his childhood. “I learned ‘Nature Boy’ from my father when I was young, maybe ten or twelve years old”explains Rickie Lee Jones. “It’s a very strange song, with a single verse, almost like an introduction without a body. But that’s the whole point, there’s only one message, as if Krishnanmurti himself wrote, and this is it: ‘Love and be loved back’. I really felt my dad close to me while I was recording this song.”

On this piece with oriental intonations, we hear Ara Dinkjian, one of the most famous Oud players in the world. And all the other musicians give this album a class worthy of the greatest jazz records. Nearly forty-five years after her debut and a career navigating between pop, rhythm and blues and rock, Rickie Lee Jones finally asserts herself as a singer who was clearly born to sing jazz.

“Pieces of Treasure”, available since April 28 (BMG/Warner Music)
Find all the information on the official website of Rickie Lee Jones