EVER restless songwriter Joe Jackson travelled the world to record Fast Forward, his first collection of original songs in seven years, for release on October 2.

Conceived originally as a series of EPs, the album was produced and arranged by Jackson, who presents four sets of four songs recorded in four different cities, New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Amsterdam, each with a different set of supporting musicians.

Jackson, who will turn 61 on Tuesday, has called New York his home for many years. There, he recorded Fast Forward, If It Wasn’t For You, Television's New York classic See No Evil and Kings Of The City with Bill Frisell on guitar, Brian Blade on drums, his long-time bassist Graham Maby and jazz violinist Regina Carter.

Jackson's Amsterdam sessions had the most diverse instrumentation of the four locations, Jackson being joined on A Little Smile, Far Away, So You Say and Poor Thing by frequent collaborators Stefan Kruger and Stefan Schmid from the band Zuco 103, the Concertgebouw orchestra and the project's only guest vocalist, 14-year-old Mitchell Sink.

In Berlin, Jackson’s second home, he recorded with two ex-pat Americans, acoustic bassist Greg Cohen and Tindersticks drummer Earl Harvin. These sessions produced Junkie Diva, If I Could See Your Face, The Blue Time and the album’s second cover, Jackson's modern English take on Peter Kreuder and Hans Fritz Beckman's 1930s' German "kabarett" song Good Bye Jonny.

Jackson travelled to one of his favourite cities, New Orleans, to record Neon Rain, Satellite, Keep On Dreaming and Ode To Joy with three members of the funk band Galactic – drummer Stanton Moore, bassist Robert Mercurio, and guitarist Jeff Raines – and a horn section led by saxophonist Donald Harrison.

Jackson's Fast Forward European tour will be announced shortly. These career-spanning shows will feature the Burton-on-Trent-born Jackson “as my own opening act,” in a short solo/piano set, before bringing out a full band with Maby on bass, Teddy Kumpel on guitar and Doug Yowell on drums.

Jackson’s last release, 2012’s The Duke, was an ambitious, horn-free tribute to Duke Ellington. This autumn's Fast Forward will be issued on earMUSIC.