Rickie Lee Jones

Singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones has always been hard to pin down. Poetic and quirky, literate and lyrical, she's a true original. Just one listen to both the jazzy scat of "Chuck E's in Love" and the languorous dreamscapes of "The Horses," and you'll understand the through-line — a unique vision of sophisticated language and music twirling in the reeds of her expressive voice.

Not just a great songwriter, but an artist of singular vision, Rickie Lee Jones has covered dozens of songs, applying her particular vocal shifts and twists to completely reinterpret them. Among the gems here are her takes on Traffic's "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys," Donovan's "Sunshine Superman," and "I Won't Grow Up" from Peter Pan. You'll never hear these songs the same way again.

The great joy of taking a musical ride with Rickie Lee Jones is not knowing in what musical direction she's going to pull us: jazz scats, R&B smoothness, or folk freak-outs. These deep tracks reveal the depth and richness of Rickie Lee's unique vision.

With one foot in be-bop bohemia, another in folk simplicity, and a couple of others planted across the musical spectrum, Rickie Lee Jones' style is hard to identify but easy to recognize. Partly it's her voice — reedy but pliable, an instrument that shifts and halts, then speeds right on. And partly it's her songwriting, evocatively poetic, recalling the vividness of Tom Waits (with whom she was involved). But really, it's the combination of song, lyric, arrangement, and voice — jazzy, cool, and uniquely Rickie Lee Jones.