Something Borrowed

A unique voice in a time when disco and new wave was on trend and female singer-songwriters were defined largely by the folk genre, Rickie Lee Jones introduced herself to the world with the casual jazz flair of Chuck E's In Love from her 1979 Grammy award winning self-titled debut album. Though Jones' enchanting, genre-blending style never allowed her early commercial success to be replicated, a restless creative spirit, often dedicated to the reinterpretation of standards and classics, has ensured she's remained an important and enduring presence.

In 2012, Jones translated classic rock of the likes of Neil Young, Van Morrison and The Rolling Stones on The Devil You Know album, with likeminded genre-bender Ben Harper on production duties. Her regular use of covers including the collections Pop Pop (1991) and It's Like This (2000) have always been met with mixed response, though she explains why they were particularly significant in her early days.  

“Those records were made ten years apart, more or less, and now ten years [has passed] again [with The Devil You Know] so the process is bound to be different depending on where I live and who is in my immediate surround,” Jones admits. “The first difference is that working at my age, in this phase of my life, I'm a lot more casual, I guess. Pop Pop was the first record of covers after a ten-year career. Its meaning, if you will, was to shape the idea of me to include jazz; I had always done jazz live and in fact had probably ushered in a renewed interest in jazz standards [for] a rock pop crowd that didn't know Lush Life from Street Life and didn't want to know. I did [Billy Barnes'] Something Cool as the opening song in my very first tour, walked out onto the stage – a rooftop – and sang this ballad,” she says, proud of popularising the practice of covering jazz standards many years before Linda Ronstadt and Donna Summer took it mainstream.

With such an esteemed career to showcase in her intimate run of Australian shows alongside multi-instrumentalist Jeff Pevar and cellist Ed Willett, fans will be treated to an eclectic setlist dependent on Jones' mood each evening.

“I try to educate the players quickly so that we can do whatever I – we – feel on any given night. [It] depends on what I feel that night; I feel the crowd, sometimes I feel them before they arrive… Sometimes I forget to do songs like [The Last Chance] Texaco or Chuck E['s In Love] – I forget. Other times I remember obscure tunes and pull them out. I just do what I feel like as long as I am sure I will remember the whole thing.”

Jones' memory is firmly intact as she recalls the favourite moment of her Australian travels dating back to her very first visit when a fan followed her car to find out where she was staying.

“She caught me at the elevator. [For her it was] one of those moments you hope for then when you get there you don't know what to say. And she said, 'Why do you wear those pants?' Which characterises the Australian to me; not rude, just you know, plain speaking. I said, 'Well I saw Janis Joplin in these pants on the back of an album once and decided someday I would get a pair of pants just like them'. I loved that moment,” she declares, remembering a pair of wide, flaired crepe pants, “first because she didn't try to hurt me… and second because she treated me like a proper rock star and I love the memory. I didn't expect that enthusiasm; it was nice.”  

Rickie Lee Jones will be playing the following dates:

Wednesday 13 March - The Old Museum, Brisbane QLD