Seminal genre jumper Rickie Lee Jones, whom Time Magazine once called “The Duchess Of Coolsville,” has a long history of playing with jazz in pop music. Since the late ’70s, Jones has tinkered with rock, R&B, pop, soul, and jazz, releasing 14 studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, one EP, one video album, and 22 singles. Now, Jones is announcing a new album comprising jazz classics from the Great American Songbook; Pieces Of Treasure will be out April 28.

Recorded over five days at Sear Sound in New York, Pieces Of Treasure is produced by Russ Titelman, who famously co-produced Jones’ first two albums, her 1980 self-titled debut and 1981’s Pirates. Pieces Of Treasure (a callback to Pirates also features contributions from Rob Mounsey on piano, guitarist Russell Malone, bassist David Wong, and drummer Mark McLean.

“This is an album Russ masterfully picked players who are exceptional musicians, who listen and respond,” says Jones. “And that’s partly why this sparse thing sounds so totally complete, because everyone responds to each other and builds this perfect room.”

Jones adds: “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.”

Along with the album news, Jones is sharing its first single, “Just In Time,” which was written by Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green and features Mike Mainieri on vibraphone.

“I am flirting with the microphone, sexy in a kind of ‘grown-ups in the 1960s’ way, like Dean Martin might have been with his sweetheart,” says Jones of “Just In Time.” “I try to keep tape running every time I am behind the microphone, because you never know? I just slipped in there and started to sing. So, no one is thinking too much. And that’s the way to sneak up on a performance”

Titelman adds: “This American Songbook recording shows Rickie’s artistry in full bloom. Her voice has always sounded a bit younger than it ought to (that may be a function of her ability to inhabit the character who is singing the song so masterfully that you believe every word), but on this recording the aging voice sounds even better to me than the youthful one. There’s a resonance and warmth in her lower register that wasn’t there before. I adore the young Rickie Lee but I love even more the Old Dame.”

Listen to “Just In Time” below.

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)

TOUR DATES:
04/06 – New York, NY @ Birdland (7pm & 9:30pm)
04/07 – New York, NY @ Birdland (7pm & 9:30pm)
04/08 New York, NY @ Birdland (7pm & 9:30pm)

Pieces Of Treasure is out 4/28 via BMG Modern Recordings. Pre-order it here.