August 5, 2016
Norah Jones has announced the October 7 global release of Day Breaks (Blue Note Records), her stunning sixth solo album which is a kindred spirit to the singer’s breakout debut Come Away With Me and finds the 9-time GRAMMY-winner returning to the piano and her roots. The album features jazz luminaries including her Blue Note label mates saxophonist Wayne Shorter, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and drummer Brian Blade on a 12-song set that presents 9 new originals alongside covers of songs by Horace Silver, Duke Ellington and Neil Young.
“This new album feels full circle because I’m going back to my early influences,” says Norah. “After the first record, I drifted away from the piano a little bit. I still played it, but was more inspired to write on guitar. I really loved playing piano on this record.”
Watch the video for “Carry On,” the album’s first single which features Norah’s signature piano sound. Fans who pre-order the download of Day Breaks on the Norah Jones Store, iTunes or Amazon will receive “Carry On” instantly, and the single is also on all streaming services including Apple Music and Spotify. Day Breaks is available for pre-order in all formats at the Norah Jones Store and Amazon. A special 180-gram orange vinyl version of the album will also be available from Barnes & Noble, as well as a deluxe CD version featuring 4 live bonus tracks that will be available at Target.
“Norah Jones has a way of being there when you need her… a warm, honeyed voice, right up against your ear, AutoTune-free and honest,” wrote the Boston Globe in a rave review of Norah’s first-ever Newport Jazz Festival performance this past Saturday in front of the festival’s first sold-out audience in over 25 years. Norah also became only the 4th artist in history to perform at both the Newport Folk and Jazz festivals in the same year.
Norah has also announced Fall tour dates in North America and Europe including concerts in Los Angeles (Greek Theatre, October 25) and New York City (Beacon Theatre, November 29). Ticket pre-sales for the North American tour dates are now underway and fans who pre-order Day Breaks in any format at the Norah Jones Store before Sunday at 11:59pm ET will have access to the best seats in the house while supplies last. General tickets will go on sale Friday, August 12. Visit norahjones.com for ticket info.
NORAH JONES – FALL 2016 TOUR DATES:
8/10/16 – Ellie Caulkins Opera House – Denver, CO
9/23/16 – Oaktopia – Denton, TX
10/18/16 – Queen Elizabeth Theatre – Vancouver, BC **
10/19/16 – Benaroya Hall – Seattle, WA **
10/20/16 – Keller Auditorium – Portland, OR **
10/25/16 – Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA **
10/27/16 – Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, CA **
10/28/16 – Paramount Theatre – Oakland, CA
11/8/16 – Teatro degli Arcimboldi – Milan, Italy
11/9/16 – Granteatro Geox – Padova, Italy
11/11/16 – Ampitheatre Cite des Congres – Lyon, France
11/12/16 – Theatre Sebastapol – Lille, France
11/14/16 – Palladium – London, UK
11/15/16 – Salle Pleyel – Paris, France
11/16/16 – Teatre Femina – Bordeaux, France
11/21/16 – Olympia (Blue Note Festival) – Paris, France
11/28/16 – Ulster PAC – Kingston, NY
11/29/16 – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY
12/2/16 – Academy of Music – Philadelphia, PA
12/3/16 – Lincoln Theatre – Washington, DC
12/8/16 – The VETS – Providence, RI
12/9/16 – State Theatre – Portland, ME
12/10/16 – Orpheum Theatre – Boston, MA
**Valerie June supports
The track listing for Day Breaks is as follows:
1. Burn
2. Tragedy
3. Flipside
4. It’s A Wonderful Time For Love
5. And Then There Was You
6. Don’t Be Denied
7. Day Breaks
8. Peace
9. Once I Had A Laugh
10. Sleeping Wild
11. Carry On
12. Fleurette Africaine (African Flower)
NORAH JONES BIOGRAPHY
Norah Jones first emerged on the world stage with the February 2002 release of Come Away With Me, her self-described “moody little record” that introduced a singular new voice and grew into a global phenomenon, sweeping the 2003 Grammy Awards and signaling a paradigm shift away from the prevailing pop music of the time. Since then, Norah has sold over 45 million albums worldwide and become a 9-time GRAMMY-winner. She has released a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums—Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009), and Little Broken Hearts (2012)—as well as albums with her collective bands The Little Willies and Puss N Boots. The 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones showcased her incredible versatility by collecting her collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Outkast, Herbie Hancock, and Foo Fighters. Little Broken Hearts, which was produced by Danger Mouse, was a fascinating step in the artistic evolution of one of the music world’s most consistently intriguing singer-songwriters.
However, when Norah first moved from Texas to New York City in the Summer of 1999 it was with the hope of being a jazz singer, and she quickly found gigs singing jazz standards in restaurants and clubs around town. Around the same time she met Jesse Harris (who would collaborate on her debut album and write her breakout song “Don’t Know Why”) and soon fell into the singer-songwriter scene at the Living Room on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. By the time she recorded Come Away With Me her sound had changed direction and evolved into something much broader and more her own. But her jazz influences—from Bill Evans and Miles Davis to Billie Holiday and Nina Simone—have always remained.
In 2014, Norah travelled to Washington DC to take part in the Kennedy Center’s historic “Blue Note at 75” concert celebrating the 75th anniversary of the legendary label that Norah has called home since the late Bruce Lundvall signed her in 2000. Surrounded by a family of Blue Note musicians including McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Robert Glasper and others, Norah was inspired. After performing a gorgeous solo piano rendition of Hoagy Carmichael’s “The Nearness of You” she was joined by what she referred to on-stage as “one of the best bands I’ve ever played with” featuring Shorter on saxophone, Brian Blade on drums, John Patitucci on bass, and Jason Moran on piano for a stunning version of the Jesse Harris song “I’ve Got To See You Again” that appeared on Come Away With Me. That thrilling experience planted a seed…
Now Norah has come full circle with Day Breaks, a remarkable new album that finds her returning to the piano and her jazz roots while also proving her to be this era’s quintessential American artist, the purveyor of an unmistakably unique sound that weaves together the threads of several bedrock styles of American music: country, folk, rock, soul, jazz. Day Breaks is a kindred spirit to Come Away With Me, though it is unquestionably the work of a mature artist who has lived life and grown immensely in her craft.
