Musical career

Jones was a lounge singer before becoming a recording artist. Jones played with numerous artists and bands including Wax Poetic and the Peter Malick Group. Jones performed quite frequently with guitarist Charlie Hunter in 2001 and appeared on Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below album in a duet with André 3000 in 2003. While Jones is best-known for her sultry-yet-powerful vocal style, often compared to that of Billie Holiday or Nina Simone, her abilities as a jazz pianist have likewise been celebrated. On January 19, 2003 Jones appeared as a guest on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on NPR, performing jazz standards such as "September in the Rain" and "I Can't Get Started," and later that year she appeared again with McPartland at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, performing more standards such as "Lover Man" and "Walking My Baby Back Home". She has performed at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in both 2004 and 2005.

Debut album: Come Away with Me

 Second album: Feels like Home

Her second album, Feels like Home, was released on February 9, 2004. Rather than repeat the softer, jazz mood of Come Away with Me, her second album was influenced by country music. Within a week of its release, Feels like Home had sold over a million copies, making it the highest-selling album in the history of Blue Note Records. Jones toured globally again, to promote the album with the Handsome Band, and the addition of backing singer Daru Oda. Time magazine included Jones on the Time 100, a list of the most influential people of 2004. "Feels Like Home" has sold over 14 million copies.

Third album: Not Too Late

Her third album, Not Too Late, was released by Blue Note Records on January 30, 2007. The album is Jones's first for which she wrote or co-wrote every song, and according to her, some of them are much darker than those on her previous albums. Not Too Late was mostly recorded at Jones's home studio and is the first album Jones recorded without producer Arif Mardin, who died in the summer of 2006. Jones described the sessions as "fun, relaxed and easy" and without a deadline; executives at Blue Note Records reportedly did not know they were recording an album. The song "My Dear Country" is a political satire; she wrote it before the United States Presidential election day in 2004.

Not Too Late reached the #1 position in twenty countries and reached #1 on the United World Chart with sales over 720,000 in its first week. It is the third best first week album sales of 2007 after Avril Lavigne's third album The Best Damn Thing and Linkin Park's third album Minutes to Midnight. The album became the 800th album to reach the top spot on the UK chart. It also reached #1 in the U.S. with 405,000 copies sold. According to a press release from EMI, Not Too Late is certified gold or platinum in twenty-one countries as of February 2007. The album has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, according to media traffic. But with shipment it sold 4 million copies. The first single, "Thinking About You", became Jones's first single to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 since "Don't Know Why".

Tours

Throughout 2002 and 2003 Jones appeared on stages, globally, for her first tour with the Handsome Band, travelling throughout Asia, America, Europe and Oceania. The tour was received with numerous sell-out concerts and positive critical acclaim.

Jones began a United States concert tour to promote her third album, Not Too Late, on April 13, 2007, and ending with a free concert in New York City on July 6, 2007. Pre-sales of tickets to the shows were made available to her fan club members, and many sold out well before the performance date. She begins her European tour on July 9, 2007 in Paris, and finishing with a concert in London on August 27, 2007, in Sopot on August 31 and in Reykjavík, Iceland on September 2, 2007 .

While playing with the Handsome Band, Jones & co. are known to play several known hits from her albums, modified for stage performance with guitar solos and additional percussion. Additionally, shows may also feature several covers of country, jazz, blues, or folk songs, ranging from the ubiquitous to the obscure. Artists covered have included, among others, Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons, Randy Newman, and Tom Waits.

Jones is working with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for her 2007 summer tour. The Singer also performed at Bryant Park on July 6 as part of Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series.

Nominations and awards

Come Away with Me was heavily nominated for the Grammy Awards of 2003. Of the eight awards for Come Away with Me, Jones personally received five. "Don't Know Why" was also performed on an episode of Sesame Street, in which Jones changed the lyrics to "Don't know why Y didn't come," and thereby introduced the letter Y to the young audience.

Jones received three awards at the Grammy Awards of 2005, including "Record of the Year" and "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals" for her collaboration with Ray Charles on the song "Here We Go Again". She personally earned her eighth Grammy (and eleventh overall) for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for her song "Sunrise". That year, Jones appeared on the self-titled record by Amos Lee.

Jones also collaborated with the Foo Fighters on their 2005 record In Your Honor, singing vocals with Dave Grohl on "Virginia Moon". The song was nominated for a "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" in 2006.