Joni Mitchell's Mingus (Asylum), her much-ballyhooed collaboration with the late jazz bassist and composer, is quite a successful and evocative project.

On some of the numbers she wrote lyrics to accompany Mingus' music, others are wholly her compositions. The approach and instrumentation are contemporary, of course: Jaco Pastorius on bass, Herbie Hancock on electric piano and Ms. Mitchell's acoustic guitar mixed to the front.

The arrangements are generally quite spare and haunting, emphasizing the hollow reverberation of a plucked guitar string. The sense of tormented artistry is conveyed, especially at the end of Side One with its wailing, howling chorus of wolves. Other songs are more mischievous. Interspersed are snippets of conversation with Mingus.

The last song on the LP is a sort of double eulogy. "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" was written by Mingus to recall influential saxophonist Lester Young. Now, with Mingus gone too, it serves as a remembrance of him.