Don’t Miss New Albums Out Today From Norah Jones, Bleachers, Taj Mahal, Kim Gordon & More

Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Norah Jones, Bleachers, Taj Mahal, Kim Gordon, and Wolf Jett. Read on for more insight into the records we have ready to spin.

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Norah Jones – Visions

Acclaimed singer-songwriter and pianist Norah Jones released her new studio album, Visions, today on the venerable Blue Note Records. Jones crafted Visions, her ninth solo studio album, in collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields & The Expressions, The Arcs). Jones previously worked with Leon Michels on the one-off 2023 single, “Can You Believe” and her 2021 holiday album, I Dream Of Christmas. Michels brought in fellow Daptone Records family members trumpeter Dave Guy and drummer Homer Steinweiss to contribute to Visions, which also features bassist Jesse Murphy (Brazilian Girls, John Scofield) and longtime Norah Jones collaborator drummer Brian Blade. The 12-song effort is described in press materials as “the yang to the yin that was Pick Me Up The Floor” in reference to her last record of new original songs which came out in June 2020 while the pandemic was raging.

“The reason I called the album Visions is because a lot of the ideas came in the middle of the night or in that moment right before sleep, and [album track] ‘Running’ was one of them where you’re half asleep and kind of jolted awake,” noted Jones. “We did most of the songs in the same way where I was at the piano or on guitar and Leon was playing drums and we were just jamming on stuff. I like the rawness between me and Leon, the way it sounds kind of garage-y but also kind of soulful, because that’s where he’s coming from, but also not overly perfected.”

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Bleachers – Bleachers

Bleachers, the project led by Jack Antonoff, issued Bleachers today, the band’s first studio release on the Dirty Hit record label. The 14-track self-titled album is the follow-up to the 2021 LP, Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night. Like previous Bleachers releases, the self-titled album was co-produced by Antonoff and Patrik Berger. The single, “Alma Mater,” features frequent Antonoff collaborator Lana Del Rey who co-wrote and co-produced the track. According to a description accompanying details of Bleachers:

The album is frontman Antonoff’s distinctly New Jersey take on the bizarre sensory contradictions of modern life, on his position in culture, and the things he cares about. Sonically, it’s sad, it’s joyful, it’s music for driving on the highway to, for crying to and for dancing to at weddings. There’s something reassuringly touchable and concrete about its sentiment: exist in crazy times but remember what counts.

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Taj Mahal – Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa

Legendary musician Taj Mahal released a new live album entitled Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa on the Lightning Rod Records label. Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa features The Taj Mahal Sextet including the core quartet of bassist Bill Rich, drummer Kester Smith and guitarist/Hawaiian lap steel player Bobby Ingano, along with dobro player Rob Ickes and guitarist/vocalist Trey Hensley. The LP’s 10 tracks were captured at The Church, a Tulsa studio founded by Mahal’s friend, the late Leon Russell. Tulsa’s rich musical history was introduced to Mahal by his friend James Brewer. Jesse Ed Davis later keyed him into some of the city’s famed players like J.J. Cale, Bobby Keys and Russell. The latter purchased The Church in 1972 making it the homebase for his Shelter Records. Current owners Ivan Acosta and Teresa Knox recently renovated the space, dedicating it the legacy of the “Tulsa Sound” and providing it for rising musicians in the area.

Tulsa has a rich but also tragic historical significance to Black history and culture. A center of jazz and blues as a stop on the legendary Chitlin’ Circuit, Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood became known as Black Wall Street thanks to its thriving Black community and Black businesses. It was ruthlessly destroyed in the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 where a white mob killed hundreds of residents and burned more than 1,250 homes, erasing years of Black success in the area. Mahal shared some sage words on Tusla and U.S. history along with what it means for us today:

“A lot of the people that caused that Massacre to happen were highly unevolved human beings. Unfortunately, this country didn’t start with the best of people, some of them didn’t have brains above their ankles and they did not know how to handle the success of people they viewed as relegated to the bottom of society. Fortunately there has been a tremendous amount of music and art, to come out of the state of Oklahoma and there’s a great diverse population that’s there. The people have tried to make their way and there’s been some progress that has been slow. Clearly and obviously, people have been working to evolve themselves past those kinds of ugly examples of what human beings can do, to and with, and against one another. Let’s hope that the lesson from that doesn’t fall on deaf ears, and that we continue to evolve.”

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Kim Gordon – The Collective

Acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Kim Gordon is back with her second solo album, The Collective, out today on Matador Records. The co-founding former member of Sonic Youth recorded the album in her native Los Angeles. Gordon once again worked with producer Justin Raisen on The Collective, who also produced its predecessor, 2019’s No Home Record. The 11-track album also features additional production from Anthony Paul Lopez.

“On this record, I wanted to express the absolute craziness I feel around me right now,” Gordon stated. “This is a moment when nobody really knows what truth is, when facts don’t necessarily sway people, when everyone has their own side, creating a general sense of paranoia. To soothe, to dream, escape with drugs, TV shows, shopping, the internet, everything is easy, smooth, convenient, branded. It made me want to disrupt, to follow something unknown, maybe even to fail.”

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Wolf Jett – Time Will Finally Come

Wolf Jett, based in the the Santa Cruz Mountains, released their second album, Time Will Finally Come. Despite setbacks from the 2020 CZU fire, which destroyed their home and studio, the band was able to recover and rebuild their new house and music studio in Boulder Creek near Big Basin State Park. Time Will Finally Come was produced and recorded in Oakland by Jonathan Kirchner (Con Brio). Guests who appear on the 14-track effort include AJ Lee (AJ Lee & Blue Summit), Alex Jordan (Midnight North) and Jason Crosby (Jackson Browne, Phil Lesh).

“Time Will Finally Come is a redemption story, said lead vocalist Chris Jones. “We are finally able to celebrate life again, but these songs don’t forget what has happened over the past few years. There’s a recognition of our trauma alongside hope for what’s to come. It’s the sound of rebuilding and learning from the past.”

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Compiled by Team JamBase.