Van Morrison Signs to Blue Note Records

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Jazz label Blue Note Records, home of Grammy-winner Norah Jones, will announce Thursday that it has signed Van Morrison to a multi-album global deal.

His self-produced album "What's Wrong With This Picture?" is due Oct. 21. The jazz- and blues-infused set includes 11 new Morrison originals, a cover of Lightnin' Hopkins' "Stop Drinking" and an arrangement of traditional tune "Saint James Infirmary."

Morrison's last album, "Down the Road" (Exile/Universal), debuted at No. 25 on the Billboard 200 chart in May 2002. Prior to that, he recorded for Virgin's Pointblank imprint. Morrison was also affiliated with jazz label Verve for two sets in the mid-1990s, including an album of Mose Allison songs.

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To say nothing of his years recording for the Brothers Warner. But, the main excuse for posting this is linking to some recordings he made in a bid to get out of his contract with Bang Records after he determined that attempting followup singles to "Brown Eyed Girl" for Bert Berns wasn't what he wanted to do with his life:

Van Morrison getting out of his Bang Records contract: "I can see by the look on your face, that you've got ringworm..."