"A singer, composer and lyricist of exceptional talent and unmatched influence, Joni Mitchell has crafted an extraordinary body of work spanning more than 40 years and is widely regarded as one of the brightest musical lights of recent generations. Fans, fellow musicians and critics have delighted in an ever-evolving creative journey, with songs both universal and profoundly personal. Her music has become a standard to which others are compared and which many aspire to copy, but its inventiveness and ineffable spirit make it decidedly her own." - jonimitchell.com

"For three decades Joni Mitchell wrote songs that were equally daring in their personal revelations and their musical restlessness. They traced a woman's romantic and intellectual life in progress, from bright-eyed aspiration to cosmopolitan wanderlust to political bitterness, from folky sweetness to pop sheen to open-ended, jazzy excursions. Along the way her music spawned countless disciples and admirers." - Jon Pareles New York Times.

Rolling Stone magazine called her "one of the greatest songwriters ever," while Allmusic said, "When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century."

Who could have said it better? So much has been written today in regards to Joni Mitchell what more could anyone else possibly have to say. Yet there is so much left unsaid. Sometimes I wonder what effect it would have to grab people by the shoulders and shake them vigorously in an attempt to wake them up and get them to listen to Joni's music. Early in her career there were only a couple of magazines that would write about her or for that matter, musicians, period. Mitchell and Rolling Stone had a controversial relationship early in the beginning when the magazine featured a "tree" illustrating all of Mitchell's alleged romantic partners, primarily other musicians. Doubtful that anyone might expect that from even the Enquirer. This demonstrates the mentality that resented females who were independently successful on their own terms. It was hurtful and crude especially in the context of the era when the majority of their target audience had much more critical things to think about: Vietnam protests, racial riots, pollution, drugs, abortion, civil rights, and over population. Much like today but never before had such diverse social issues confronted so many, so young. The innocence of the time was fleeting, then gone. The optimism for change became indifference for survival. Talented songwriter/poets like Joni Mitchell reflected all of this in the mirror she held up to our faces. We only had to listen to hear the pain, the truth, and the prophesy; to be able to recognize ourselves in her open revealing self-sacrificing lyrics.

Her lyrics can make the most intelligent amongst us, think; the most secure, question; the most proud, doubt...but like the Beatles or Dylan she also gave us hope amidst the hopelessness.

The Joni Mitchell CDs available in the Manieri collection at this time include: Court and Spark, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, Mingus, and Shadows and Light (the tour released in 1980). I was surprised at first that a jazz collection, other than personal, would even include her work but when comparing the other female singers today that are being labeled as "jazz"; well it does make a lot sense in comparison. Today these CDs are the most widely recognized as her jazz influenced or jazz oriented albums although they were not considered jazz at the time of their release. Not every song was ever intended to be thought of as jazz. These are the releases where Joni progressively used jazz musicians in her band more and more but was still classified as pop until her music overtly completed metamorphosis unable to be pigeon holed any longer into a packaged category. Yet, her album Mingus peaked at #17 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. That album was the pinnacle to her jazz immersion. For that release she dedicated her time working with the great jazz musician, Charles Mingus co-writing songs just before he died. It was not a tribute album but it was the first time she had actually worked writing lyrics for another's' consideration. Often criticized for her experimental changes, the fact was Joni Mitchell never seemed capable of two consecutive albums sounding the same. That put her in a musical league of her own. The record companies were confused as to how to promote her and the jazz world did not welcome this "pop star" with open arms. Those albums were lumped in with and labeled as pop regardless of their content. The new musical genre "FUSION" had not yet been ordained although it certainly existed. The music industry at that time could not quiet comprehend a white girl from the Saskatoon prairie seriously performing jazz. Artists did not criss-cross the charts and categories. Country was country and jazz was jazz. Critics seemed confused as well. Steely Dan was praised for their use of the same jazz musicians that Joni Mitchell was criticized for using just a year or so earlier.

In a 1979 interview with Cameron Crowe for Rolling Stone Joni commented "Here's the thing," she said forcefully, "You have two options. You can stay the same and protect the formula that gave you your initial success. They're going to crucify you for staying the same. If you change, they're going to crucify you for changing. But staying the same is boring. And change is interesting. So of the two options," she concluded cheerfully, "I'd rather be crucified for changing."

As a teenager, Joni taught herself ukulele and, later, guitar. Joni Anderson married folk-singer Chuck Mitchell, and attended the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary for a year but Mitchell then left, telling her mother: "I'm going to Toronto to be a folksinger." In the summer of 1965, Chuck Mitchell took Joni with him to the United States. While living in Detroit, Chuck & Joni were regular performers at area coffee houses and bars and they quickly began to perform up and down the East coast until they divorced. Her 1969 album Clouds won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance 1970.

"I came through folk music simply because it was easy to get into it," she continued. "You could play for three months and become a professional (well, she was capable in three months). In high school I was always writing poetry, but I never thought that poetry and song could be the same thing until Bob Dylan came along. The song that did it for me was 'Positively Fourth Street.' I owe much to Bobby for that." So, with such a groundwork in folk music when did Joni Mitchell make the crossover from folk into jazz?

Anyone listening might not have initially acknowledged the point of no return but most fans were probably not surprised by her resulting evolution. It became more evident that to be her fan meant you had to be open to change. She was simply ahead of her time. Her first solo acoustic album, Song to a Seagull was released without the overdubs of sickening sweet orchestration or back-up chorus singers the record companies of the day felt essential to progressive folk music. Of course this was due to producer David Crosby and his pull with the record company. On Ladies of the Canyon no one can deny that the clarinet solo at the end of "For Free" by Paul Horn was unadulterated jazz. Depending on your definition of jazz it is difficult to pinpoint which album represents the crossover to jazz because of the seamless progression from one album to the next but that album definitely had a different sound from her first two. She no longer sounded solo but still had no band.

For the Roses included jazz sidemen Tom Scott, Wilton Felder, and Bobbye Hall. Other session players included Graham Nash and Stephen Stills. Court and Spark and the Hissing of Summer Lawns were considered by many to be her most accessible to most listeners. Used like seasoning on some songs, the who's who of jazz session musicians dominated her other songs, with more solos and instrumental interpretations. The drum beat and bass structure became more independent. The listener was being seduced deeper and deeper into a different world. It would eventually be labeled jazz-pop but at no time did it ever resemble the buttery saccharine "Smooth" contemporary jazz that is presently found today. In January 1975, her album Court and Spark received four nominations for Grammy Awards, including Grammy Award for Album of the Year, for which Mitchell was the only woman nominated. She won only the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)

In Guitar Player, Martin Simpson called her "perhaps the most influential female guitarist of the century".

Joni Mitchell has made the 2003 Rolling Stone Magazine list of 100 GREATEST GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME most certainly because of her open, or non-standard, tunings. While some of Mitchell's most popular songs were written on piano, almost every song she composed on the guitar originated from the 50 or so different tunings, which have been referred to as "Joni's weird chords." The use of alternative tunings allows guitarists to produce accompaniment with more varied and wide-ranging textures. Mitchell's use of alternative tunings and a highly rhythmic picking/strumming style creates a rich and unique guitar sound. Her right-hand picking/strumming technique has evolved to a looser and more rhythmic style, sometimes incorporating percussive "slaps", featured on later releases. This obviously came about because she had no formal musical education. She is another musician by way of art school. She often employs a visual artist's vocabulary when talking about music. "I know none of the numerics of music," she explained. "I see music as fluid architecture. For me, the chords are colors that you stir into mutant shades, as in painting." This in turn created a growing problem for touring because she would need to spend performance time personally tuning her guitars.

In 1995, Mitchell's friend Fred Walecki, proprietor of Westwood Music in Los Angeles, developed a solution to alleviate her continuing frustration with using multiple alternate tunings in live settings. Walecki designed a Stratocaster-style guitar to function with the Roland VG-8 (Virtual Guitar), a system capable of configuring her numerous tunings electronically. While the guitar itself remained in standard tuning, the VG-8 encoded the pickup signals into digital signals which translated the altered tunings. This allowed Mitchell to use one guitar on stage, while an off-stage tech entered the pre-programmed tuning for each song in her set.

Today Joni still tours although she is devoting more time to her painting career than before. Her paintings have exhibited in Canada, Europe, and Japan. As a child victim of the Canadian polio epidemic her health has been vulnerable or somewhat compromised and may someday seriously affect her creative productivity. Always feeling she was on the outside of the music trade, the musical aspect of her life may be more easily abandoned with fewer regrets. In 1997, Mitchell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but did not attend the ceremony. She is probably one of the few people in the music industry today that is recognized specifically by her peers for her vast musical pioneering and undaunted integrity.

Part Two will include a short synopsis of her re-released CDs currently found in the Manieri collection.

Part Two

As promised this 2nd part of Joni Mitchell will delve a little deeper specifically in the individual Mitchell songs from the CDs in the Manieri Collection. Joni Mitchell wrote,

"And we'll laugh and toast to nothing and smash
our glasses down
A round for these freaks and these soldiers
A round for these friends of mine..."

I say, remember another round for those able to accomplish some single achievement; complete just one important task; make some miniscule difference in our day to day lives. How can we properly applaud those that are successful on numerous levels at numerous tasks benefiting thousands of people? Fortunately the true geniuses of the world do not rely on or crave our acceptance of them or what they do. There are many shiny things to keep us "diving, diving, diving down to pick up on" in our entertainment industry but they are more often soon replaced with disappointment. The star maker machinery will always measure success with sales and it seems the less talented need the most promotion and attention.

Not to dismiss the one hit wonders of the world because someone may have given their all and that alone is commendable but how are some musicians able to pour out their essential soul album after album with significant creative material? Joni Mitchell gained respect from fellow musicians and sold millions of albums without really having a string of radio hits or dancing clad in sexy costumes in choreographed music videos. Could that happen again today? Doubtful.

Starting early in her recording career she mixed elements of jazz in what would ordinarily be labeled folk or pop music. By integrating jazz sidemen into the mix of musicians she achieved a certain control producing a unique style to her sound. Court and Spark became one of her more popular albums, not because it had a pure pop sound but because it received a certain amount of radio play with some of her songs actually charting at the time. FM Radio had just come out of the closet changing from classical music to an "anything goes type format" with California leading the way for "album rock". DJs were still creating their own play list choices and playing albums in their entirety. Exposure was broad and reflected in sales and even influenced AM radio feeling an urge to join in. It was a small window for a short time that allowed many musicians an opportunity to become recognized just before the corporate mentality cinched the gap shut.

Recorded in '73, released in '74, Court and Spark marked a definite turning point for the music industry as well as for Joni Mitchell. Her lyrics not only dealt with love and love lost but began to reflect the hectic lifestyle she was at one time simply observing but now felt herself becoming more and more a part of. The album had an array of top notch musicians. The sound was full but not overproduced. Miles of Aisleswas also released about this time which documented her recent tour with jazz band, L.A. Express, who had all served as sidemen in the studio; Max Bennett - bass, John Guerin - drums and percussion, Larry Carlton - guitarist, and Joe Sample - keyboards, and of course Tom Scott on reeds and woodwinds. This stellar collaboration was actually kept to a more minimal sound and never seemed top heavy or cumbersome. Each musician's contribution stood out and never became a blur in a blend of homogenized orchestration. This was probably because the line-up changed somewhat with each song. Robbie Robertson's guitar solo was distinctive as was the commentary from Cheech and Chong. The muted trumpet of Chuck Findley fit between the vocals and bass as tight as a piece into a puzzle. The recommended song picks are Car on a Hill, Troubled Child /Twisted, and Free Man in Paris. Actually every song would be considered a pick. Each one still sounds fresh and pertinent today amongst the modernite wannabes and imitators.

The next year The Hissing of Summer Lawns was released which had almost the same line-up of musicians. There was a slight shift with more emphasis and greater dependency on solos by Chuck Findley, Victor Feldman, with special attention to the rhythm section of John Guerin and Max Bennett. The overall sound was very similar to Court and Spark but the vocals seemed to be ever stretching not just for the simply high notes but for notes and nuances to better depict the songs' meaning. Listen to the mood set by the pitch on her voice in the song, Don't Interrupt the Sorrow. If one song could be chosen to represent the music of that album it would be Harry's House-Centerpiece. Perhaps the more innovative song on this collection is The Boho Dance. Once a literary reference, the Boho Dance has now been applied to all the arts or the arts in general. This song gives insight to Joni Mitchell's attitude toward her music, music as art, and the music industry and her refusal to dance the Boho Dance. Effortlessly it segues to the next song. The most ambitious composition is The Jungle Line. Joni's acoustic guitar and moog synthesizer weaves a pattern of sound intermittently overpowered by the African drums of Burundi. Her vocals and lyrics supply the thread that stitches the composition together so dramatically all "for a taste of something smuggled in".

The following release, Hejira, sets the mood musically for Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, Mingus, and the live tour, Shadows and Light. Joni's submersion into jazz-fusion seemed uncompromising, somewhat obstinate without regard to friends, fans, or critics. These were the years she consistently worked with musicians like Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius. While these musicians were recognized, they certainly were not the legendary figures they are today. At that time Weather Report had filled the gap left by Miles Davis who was on a recording hiatus. They suffered much of the same criticism as Joni Mitchell, mostly from the old school jazz sector of critics and musicians that considered fusion to be a separate animal from jazz. Ironic how so many forgot that the founding members of Weather Report were the very musicians that had helped establish the classic sound of modern jazz; the very members of the "Olde Guard".

The title song Hejira pits Jaco's bass against Joni's evolved guitar style, a worthy opponent, but instead of sparring they are running, jogging, pacing themselves neither too far ahead nor behind while her vocals take flight like a kite in a March wind. Jaco, at the time, was a relative new comer to the jazz recording scene compared to the others. He did not have the years of pedigree gained after a lifetime of playing with various bands but made up for any deficiency by using his innovation. He brought a different kind of experience to the table. Jaco was able to manipulate the electric bass comparable to other bass players, like Charles Mingus, but took it a step further in another direction. Jaco was not the first bass player to play in what became characteristically his style but he was the first to be able to squeeze out such agility using that style.

In Joni Mitchell's 1979 Down Beat Magazine interview with famed jazz writer Leonard Feather, which appeared in the September 6th issue. They discussed Charles Mingus and the then recently finished recording of Joni's "Mingus" album.

Leonard: Did Charles Mingus know anything about the choice of Jaco before you made it?

Joni: We talked about personnel and the people he suggested, I didn't know any of them. I tried some sessions with people he suggested, but still, all the way along, in the back of my mind I had my favorites, and those are the people I ended up working with.

Leonard: Did you tell him about Jaco after you used him?

Joni: No, we talked about him at an earlier stage - you have to understand he was very ill then, so I couldn't tell from his responses whether he knew Jaco's work or whether he liked it. I couldn't get any real feedback. All I knew was that he was very prejudiced against electrical instruments, but when he articulated his prejudices on a tape that I heard, Jaco transcends them all. He felt that with an electrical instrument you couldn't get the dynamics; that the dynamics were all done by pushing buttons and so on. But Jaco completely defies all that; he gets more dynamics than any bass player... he's phenomenal, he's an orchestra. He's a horn section, he's a string section, he's a French horn soloist...

Surprisingly, on the song Furry Sings the Blues, with Mitchell on guitar and Neil Young on harmonica, the phenomenal bass player that steals all the attention is not Jaco Pastorius but veteran band mate, Max Bennett, instead. The song Blue Motel Room features bassist Chuck Domanico. While it is Mitchell's voice that is the most pivotal on this song, the bass is given ample room to stretch. It is obvious that the bass is now playing a much more important role than before. The rest of the album is undoubtedly Jaco on bass and he and Mitchell generated a musical rapport that would stay in tact for her subsequent albums through Mingus and the tour.

Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, the album after Hejira, extended the overall sound and feel but came with a few surprises; least of all was the photo of her on the front cover dressed in drag as a black man. (Was she thumbing her nose at the critics?) The Silky Veils of Ardor, for the first time in a long while, featured only Joni on acoustic guitar and vocals but could be considered most anything but folk. Clocked in at over 16 minutes Paprika Plains seemingly meanders like a dream sequence of unrelated events until Wayne Shorter's sax breaks in and fittingly carries the listener right out of the entire song. The Tenth World is simply mass percussion with the designated percussionist on lead vocals. Joni and Chaka Khan contribute back-up vocals. The next song, Dreamland, continues where the thunderous percussion ends introducing a solitary heavy drum beat above the more sparse percussion together with Joni and Chaka on lead and accent vocals. Joni takes the first line singing, "It's a long long way from Canada". Indeed it is. These songs tend to make her other compositions sound more normal or at least familiar. Like Hejira, this album has a very full complex sound sometimes achieved using only 2-3 musicians. Her songs commonly address the traditional themes of loneliness and relationships as well as current news events with such lyrics as "While Muslims stick up Washington...", that all still seem timely today.

Mingus, her third and last studio recording with the ill-fated Jaco Pastorius found Joni plunging deeper with reckless abandon into a more formal jazz structure in her song writing. There must have been critics that thought this album would be the proverbial water to hold her head under long enough to determine if she would drown or float and be proven a witch. Most of the songs were co-written by jazz great Charles Mingus. He was obviously able to recognize her commitment and talent and wanted to work with her during the end of his life. He died before the recording was finished but did get to hear most the songs. It is doubtful the final result would have been shocking to him. Mitchell was amazingly capable of writing biographical lyrics to the jazz standard Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Surprisingly, especially to her, Joni was writing personal lyrics regarding another life other than her own. She sought the approval from Charles Mingus while sustaining a common or universal relevance in her songs. Her lyrics became different, more free, from her other work. More than her vantage point had changed. Her alliance with Mingus gave her no more credibility as far as the record company was concerned. In what album bin can you put a one time folk singer turned rock & roll jazz musician that sings her own compositions and NO STANDARDS on top of it all? It was the great big legged Emma dilemma.

"Watching the drycleaner do it
Like Midas in a polyester suit
It's all luck
It's just luck
You get a little lucky and you make a little money..."

The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines is one of the few upbeat sparkles cast amongst otherwise solemn or somewhat depressing songs. With Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Don Alias, and Peter Erskine having played together in Weather Report, the band entered the studio with an experienced sound effortlessly encompassing the guitar of Joni Mitchell and the electric piano played by Herbie Hancock. When listening to The Chair in the Sky you begin to realize the voice is the only recognized melody while the other musicians seem to improvise their own input. Toward the second half of the song the bass and sax repeat a certain familiar riff while Herbie vaguely echoes the vocals until the vocal itself floats from the melody with all the instruments coming back at the end. It is as though everyone was drifting off to dreamland in their own mind with their own thoughts but was brought back to think a single thought all at once.

The cheerful high pitched soprano saxophone chirping in Sweet Sucker Dance is a welcomed contrast to the heavy harmonic bass. The languid delivery of the lyrics, which eventually turn into a compact sort of time released scat singing, lethargically reminds us that life and love is only a dance, metaphorically. "Am I a Sucker to love you?" The song ends in an arguably optimistic sense by not answering the question. The bass and sax seem to quarrel, the bass making the final point in the debate. After Mingus, Joni did not record for several years and when she did, it was a much lighter affair. It was as though her deep submersion into jazz had left her feeling drained or perhaps she felt that it would be futile to try and top her last effort. Things were different. She re-married. Jaco Pastorius was killed; the band changed, the record label changed, and once again her music changed.