Editing Linda Ronstadt (section)

=== Jazz/pop trilogy ===
In 1981, Ronstadt produced and recorded an album of pop standards (later marketed in [[bootleg recording|bootleg]] form) titled ''Keeping Out of Mischief'' with the assistance of producer [[Jerry Wexler]]. However, Ronstadt's displeasure with the result led her, with regrets, to scrap the project. "Doing that killed me," she said in a ''Time'' magazine interview.<ref name="Time interview">{{Cite magazine |last1=Cocks |first1=Jay |last2=Worrell |first2=Denise |date=September 26, 1983 |title=Linda Leads the Band |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949833-2,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=June 6, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107142714/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949833-2,00.html |archive-date=November 7, 2012}}</ref> But the appeal of the album's music had seduced Ronstadt, as she told ''[[DownBeat]]'' in April 1985, crediting Wexler for encouraging her.<ref name="Jerry Wexler">{{Cite web |last=Bloom |first=Steve |date=July 1985 |title=An Intimate Conversation with Linda Ronstadt |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artdb85.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509164217/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artdb85.htm |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |access-date=August 18, 2008 |website=[[DownBeat]]}}</ref> Nonetheless, Ronstadt had to convince her reluctant record company, [[Elektra Records|Elektra]], to approve this type of album under her contract.<ref name="lindaronstadtwithnelsonrddle" />

By 1983, Ronstadt had enlisted the help of 62-year-old conductor Nelson Riddle. The two embarked on an unorthodox and original approach to rehabilitating the Great American Songbook, recording a trilogy of [[traditional pop]] albums: ''[[What's New (Linda Ronstadt album)|What's New]]'' (1983{{nsmdns}}U.S. 3.7&nbsp;million as of 2010); ''[[Lush Life (Linda Ronstadt album)|Lush Life]]'' (1984{{nsmdns}}U.S. 1.7&nbsp;million as of 2010); and ''[[For Sentimental Reasons (Linda Ronstadt album)|For Sentimental Reasons]]'' (1986{{nsmdns}}U.S. 1.3&nbsp;million as of 2010). The three albums have had a combined sales total of nearly seven million copies in the U.S. alone.

{{quote box
| width=25%
| align=right
| quote=I now realize I was taking a tremendous risk, and that Joe Smith (the head of Elektra Records, and strongly opposed) was looking out for himself, and for me. When it became apparent I wouldn't change my mind, he said: "I love Nelson so much! Can I please come to the sessions." I said "Yes." When the albums ... were successful, Joe congratulated me, and I never said "I told you so." |source=—Linda Ronstadt<ref>{{Cite web |last=Varga |first=George |date=November 2004 |title=A 'song interpreter' for her times |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20041121-9999-1a21linda.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225022959/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20041121-9999-1a21linda.html |archive-date=December 25, 2008 |access-date=August 1, 2008 |website=U-T San Diego}}</ref>}}

The album design for ''What's New'' by designer Kosh was unlike any of her previous disc covers. It showed Ronstadt in a vintage dress lying on shimmering satin sheets with a [[Walkman]] headset. At the time, Ronstadt received some chiding for both the album cover and her venture into what was then considered "elevator music" by cynics, but remained determined to record with Riddle, and ''What's New'' became a hit. The album was released in September 1983 and spent 81 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Album Chart and held the number three position for a month and a half (held out of the top spot only by [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''[[Thriller (Michael Jackson album)|Thriller]]'' and [[Lionel Richie]]'s ''[[Can't Slow Down (Lionel Richie album)|Can't Slow Down]]'') and the [[RIAA]] certified it triple platinum<ref name = RIAAsearch /> (over three million copies sold in the U.S. alone). The album earned Ronstadt another [[Grammy]] nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and critical raves, with ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine calling it "one of the gutsiest, most unorthodox and unexpected albums of the year."<ref name="TimeWhatsNewReview">{{Cite magazine |date=September 26, 1983 |title=Music: Linda Leads the Band |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] {{subscription required}}|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949833,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307090521/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949833,00.html|archive-date=March 7, 2008|url-status=dead|access-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref>

Ronstadt faced considerable pressure not to record ''What's New'' or record with Riddle. According to jazz historian [[Peter Levinson]], author of the book ''September in the Rain{{snds}}a Biography on Nelson Riddle'', Joe Smith, president of Elektra Records, was terrified that the Riddle album would turn off Ronstadt's rock audience.<ref name="lindaronstadtwithnelsonrddle">{{Cite web |title=The Peter Levinson Interview |url=http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/mainHTML.cfm?page=levinson.html |access-date=June 14, 2007 |website=Jerry Jazz Musician |date=April 20, 2002 |archive-date=April 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416073856/https://jerryjazzmusician.com/nelson-riddle-biographer-peter-levinson/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Ronstadt did not completely turn her back on her rock and roll past, however; the video for the title track featured [[Danny Kortchmar]] as the old beau that she bumped into during a rainstorm.

''What's New'' brought Riddle to a younger audience. According to Levinson, "the younger audience hated what Riddle had done with [[Frank Sinatra]],<ref name="nelsonriddle">{{Cite web |title=Peter Levinson (Interview) |date=April 20, 2002 |url=http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/mainHTML.cfm?page=levinson.html |access-date=June 14, 2007 |publisher=jerryjazzmusician.com |archive-date=April 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416073856/https://jerryjazzmusician.com/nelson-riddle-biographer-peter-levinson/ |url-status=live}}</ref> which in 1983 was considered 'Vintage Pop'". Working with Ronstadt, Riddle brought his career back into focus in the last three years of his life.<ref name=nelsonriddle /> [[Stephen Holden]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote, ''What's New'' "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of the pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that [[Beatlemania]] and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teenagers undid in the mid-60s.&nbsp;... In the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the 40s and 50s codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of albums ... many of them now long out-of-print."<ref name="nytimes">{{Cite news |last=[[Stephen Holden|Holden, Stephen]] |date=September 4, 1983 |title=Linda Ronstadt Celebrate the Golden Age of Pop |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/04/arts/linda-ronstadt-celebrates-the-golden-age-of-pop.html |url-status=live |access-date=May 10, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305070632/http://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/04/arts/linda-ronstadt-celebrates-the-golden-age-of-pop.html |archive-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref> ''What's New'' is the first album by a rock singer to have major commercial success in rehabilitating the [[Great American Songbook]].<ref name=nytimes />

In 1984, Ronstadt and Riddle performed these songs live, in [[concert halls]] throughout Australia, Japan, and the United States, including multi-night performances at historic venues [[Carnegie Hall]], [[Radio City Music Hall]], and [[Pine Knob]].

In 2004, Ronstadt released ''[[Hummin' to Myself (Linda Ronstadt album)|Hummin' to Myself]]'', her album for [[Verve Records]]. It was her first foray into [[traditional jazz]] since her sessions with Jerry Wexler and her records with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, but this time with an intimate [[jazz]] [[musical ensemble|combo]]. The album was a quiet affair for Ronstadt, giving few interviews and making only one television performance as a promotion. It reached number 2 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart but peaked at number 166 on the main Billboard album chart. Not having the mass distribution that [[Warner Music Group]] gave her, ''Hummin' To Myself'' had sold over 75,000 copies in the U.S. as of 2010. It also achieved some critical acclaim from the jazz cognoscenti.<ref name="JazzTimes2" />