''Day Breaks'' is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

, released on October 7, 2016, through Blue Note Records. The album features nine original songs and three covers. Jones returned to a piano-driven sound as heard on releases early in her career. It peaked at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200, becoming her sixth album to reach the top ten. ''Day Breaks'' received positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, with many praising the album's production and Jones' vocals with many comparing it favorably to her debut album ''

Come Away with Me ''Come Away with Me'' is the debut studio album by American recording artist Norah Jones, released on February 26, 2002, by Blue Note Records. Recording sessions took place at Sorcerer Sound Studio in New York City and Allaire Studios in Shoka ...

''. Jones promoted the album with television performances and interviews.

Release

''Day Breaks'' was released on October 7, 2016, through Blue Note Records. At the time of its release it was made available on CD,

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

and as a digital download. A limited edition orange vinyl was also released.

Writing and recording

Eight songs on the album are composed or co-written by Jones; composing on piano, she intended the album as a return to the sound of her 2002 debut, ''

''. The album was co-produced by Jones and

Eli Wolf Elijah Jackson Wolf (born March 11, 1997) is a former American football tight end who played in the National Football League. He played college football at Georgia and Tennessee. High school Wolf attended Minster High School in Minster, Ohio. W ...

and features drummer Brian Blade, organist Lonnie Smith and saxophonist

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...

. Jones explains the songs were composed by drawing on

jazz music Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a maj ...

influences and were recorded live without any overdubbing. There are three

cover songs In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

on ''Day Breaks'': "

Peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

", by

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...

(first recorded by Jones in 2001), "Fleurette Africaine (

African Flower "African Flower" or "Little African Flower" (Petite Fleur Africaine) is a composition by jazz pianist and composer Duke Ellington. He first recorded it for his 1962 LP ''Money Jungle''. Ellington originally named it "La Plus Belle Africaine" when he ...

)", by Duke Ellington and "Don't Be Denied", originally by

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fur ...

, whose lyrics were recast in the third person by Jones. The album also includes "Sleeping Wild" written by Sarah Oda, who co-wrote three other tracks on the album and co-produced. The album was released on October 7, 2016, and the first single was the title song, "Day Breaks". Subsequent singles included the songs "Flipside" and "Tragedy".

Promotion

Jones performed songs from ''Day Breaks'' on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...

'' and ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

''. She discussed the album on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

's ''

Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to ...

'' show on October 14, 2016. She also appeared on ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second ...

'' and performed her cover of

's "

" from the album. To further promote the album, Jones embarked on Daybreaks World Tour.

Critical reception

''Day Breaks'' received an average score of 77/100 from 10 reviews on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

rated the album four out of five stars and wrote that: Glenn Gamboa of '' Newsday'' rated the album an "A", calling it Jones' "latest masterpiece." Rating the album an "A−", ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

s Jim Farber writes of Jones: "Not since her entrancing debut has she sounded this engaged."

Accolades

Commercial performance

''Day Breaks'' debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200 (behind Green Day's ''

Revolution Radio ''Revolution Radio'' is the twelfth studio album by American rock band Green Day, released on October 7, 2016 through Reprise Records. A self-produced effort, it marked their first release since touring guitarist Jason White returned to his ori ...

''), moving 47,000

equivalent album units The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...

; it sold 44,000 copies in its first week, with the remainder of its unit total reflecting the album's streaming activity and track sales, marking her sixty top five album on the chart. It was a considerable drop from her previous efforts, '' Little Broken Hearts'' (2013) and '' The Fall'' (2009), which opened to sales of 110,000 and 180,000 units, respectively. The album debuted at number one on the US Jazz Albums chart, making it Jones' second album to reach number one.

Track listing

All tracks produced by Norah Jones and Eli Wolf, co-produced by Sarah Oda.

Personnel

Musicians *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(all tracks), Hammond B3 organ and

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...

(track 3),

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

(6) * Peter Remm – Hammond B3 (1, 2, 6, 7), electric guitar (7) *

Tony Scherr Tony Scherr is an American jazz and folk rock bassist, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Biography Scherr was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and is a graduate of the Hammonasset School. He played with Woody Herman as a teenag ...

– electric guitar (1, 6), background vocals (6) *

– sopranino saxophone (1, 8), soprano saxophone (7, 12) *

John Patitucci John Patitucci (born December 22, 1959) is an American jazz bassist and composer. Biography John James Patitucci was born in Brooklyn, New York. When he was 12, he bought his first bass and decided on his career. He listened to bass parts in R ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

(1, 8, 12) * Chris Thomas –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(2, 3, 7),

(4, 5, 10, 11), electric guitar (7) * Brian Blade – drums (except 6, 9) * Daniel Sadownick –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

(2, 3) * Lonnie Smith – Hammond B3 (3), background vocals (11) * Jon Cowherd – Hammond B3 (11) ;plus on tracks 5, 7 and 10 * Dan Iead – pedal steel guitar (7 only) * Katie Kresek, Max Moston –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

* Todd Low –

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

Dave Eggar Dave Eggar is an American cellist, pianist and composer. Early life Eggar was a musical prodigy as a child, beginning to play the cello and piano at age three and performing as a singer and actor on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera at ...

–

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

, string arrangements * Tony Maceli – bass * Chuck Palmer – string arrangements, string conductor * Phil Faconti – orchestration, copyist plus on tracks 6 and 9 *

Leon Michels Leon Marcus Michels is an American music producer, record executive, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the leader of the eclectic soul project El Michels Affair and co-founder of Truth & Soul Records and Big Crown Records. H ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

* Dave Guy –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* J. Walter Hawkes –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

* Vicente Archer – double bass *

Karriem Riggins Karriem Riggins is an American jazz drummer, hip hop producer, DJ and songwriter. Biography Riggins was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States, son of keyboardist Emmanuel Riggins. As a child, he would often watch his father perform with G ...

– drums *

Sasha Dobson Sasha Dobson (born March 31, 1979) is an American jazz singer from Santa Cruz, California. Early life Dobson comes from a musical family. Her father, Smith Dobson (Smith Weed Dobson IV, 1947–2001) was a pianist who recorded with Mark Murphy ...

, Sarah Oda,

Catherine Popper Catherine Popper (born December 28, 1973) is an American bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. She is best known for her work with Jesse Malin, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and Jack White. Popper is also a member of ...

and Petter Ericson Stakee –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

(6 only) ;On bonus tracks 13 and 16 * Norah Jones – vocals, piano * Pete Remm – Hammond B-3 organ * Jason Abraham Roberts – guitar *

Josh Lattanzi Josh Lattanzi, is an American musician best known for his collaborations with Norah Jones, Ben Kweller, The Lemonheads, Albert Hammond Jr., and The Candles. Early life Lattanzi graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1994. Early Collab ...

- bass, backing vocals *

Greg Wieczorek Greg Wieczorek (aka G. Wiz) is a New York City based drummer, percussionist, vocalist and songwriter. Born in Baltimore Maryland, Greg has recorded and performed internationally with: Norah Jones, Joseph Arthur, The Lonely Astronauts, The Autumn D ...

- drums, backing vocals ;On bonus tracks 14, 15 * Norah Jones – vocals, piano * Pete Remm – Hammond B-3 organ * Chris Thomas - bass * Brian Blade - drums * Tarriona 'Tank' Ball and Anjelika 'Jelly' Joseph - backing vocals Technical * Norah Jones and Eli Wolf – producer * Sarah Oda – co-producer * Ted Tuthill – recording engineer (at Sear Sound Studios, NYC, additional recordings at Brooklyn Recording, Brooklyn, NY) * Owen Mulholland – assistant engineer *

Tom Elmhirst Tom Elmhirst (born 8 June 1971) is a British mix engineer. He has worked with artists including Adele, Beck, David Bowie, Cage the Elephant, Lady Gaga, Residente, and Amy Winehouse, among many others. Elmhirst has received numerous accolades ...

– mixing (at

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten we ...

, NYC) * Joe Visciano – mixing assistant * Cameron Alexander, Brandon Bost, Jeff Citron, Adam Tilzer – studio assistants *

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...

– mastering (at Sterling Sound, NYC) * Marcela Avelar – art direction *

Danny Clinch Danny Clinch (born 1964) is an American photographer and film director. Biography Born in Toms River, New Jersey, Clinch graduated from Toms River High School East in 1982. After attending Ocean County College, he attended the New England S ...

–

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

*
Article in Entertainment Weekly
{{Authority control Norah Jones albums Blue Note Records albums 2016 albums