Norah Jones kept a low profile in 2006, recording a collaborative album with New York-based musician friends as the Little Willies and guesting on the self-titled Ipecac album from Mike Patton's Peeping Tom project.

But this week sees her back in the public eye with her third Blue Note album, "Not Too Late," comprising songs all written or co-written by the artist. Production was handled by Jones' songwriting partner/bassist Lee Alexander; indie singer/songwriter M. Ward, Kronos Quartet cellist Jeff Ziegler and organist Larry Goldings make guest appearances.

First single "Thinking About You" typifies an album full of jazz- and soul-shaded arrangements, old-school organ and horns and Jones' honeyed vocals.

"This album was made so differently than the first two," Jones says. "For those we booked a studio for a week to record, then returned for a week a few months later. That was great, but there was always a deadline, so we had a limited amount of time. For this album, there was no pressure, no deadline. Blue Note didn't even know about it; we were just doing it to have some fun and to see what would come of it."