April 26, 2000

Posted April 26, 2000

The May issue of Down Beat magazine features Joni on the cover and contains an interview with her they've dubbed "Jazz Romance." They describe her as "an artist transformed, with the phrasing, intonation and timbre of a classic jazz singer in the mold of Billie Holiday, but with a swagger and intelligence all her own," detailing how she came to performing an album with a complete orchestra. Of her interaction with the players,"The best analogy that I can come up with is surfing," Joni says. She tells the interviewer that she was very alert: "There was a lot of internal movement in these chords. Every time I sang it, I sang it differently. My parts weren't written out, so I tried different things. It was really a thrill." An unusual and interesting part of this article is the fact that Vince Mendoza was interviewed as well. His comments about how he approached the arrangements add a dimension to the picture that we haven't heard much about until now. A whimsical exchange near the end of the interview has Joni thinking that "Maybe we could make [the tour] like a black and white movie, with the curtain going up… People don't dress for the theater any more. This show would be a nice occasion to dress up." I'd better go dust off that tux.