From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2015 #408 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe:mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website: http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Wednesday, August 5 2015 Volume 2015 : Number 408 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? [Cath] Re: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? ["Mar] RE: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? ["Sus] sweet bird sings songs to aging children [Kenney C Kennedy Subject: Re: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? Mark, as always, you express what I'm thinking so much better than I could myself. I agree that Joni did "Mingus" at Charles Mingus's request, and that she likely hadn't thought of going that far into jazz before that. I also agree with Muller that some of Joni's best singing was on the "Mingus" album, with "Sweet sucker dance" being the best of the best. I haven't heard the Annie Lennox one and have deliberately stayed away from it, because it does seem that *everyone* wants to do a "jazz" album, but I suspect you are right and that Annie's isn't really jazz either. As well, I don't think Linda Rondstadt's Nelson Riddle recordings were jazz either. They were more like big band pop, or whatever you want to call it, the kind of thing that was popular in the 40s. If it ain't rock'n'roll, do people just say it's jazz? and that led me to, "What the heck is jazz anyway?" which is why I stayed out of this to start with. I started wandering down the "What is jazz" road and got lost on the way. - ----- Original Message ----- From: Mark Scott To: Susan E. McNamara ; joni@smoe.org Cc: Sent: Tuesday, August 4, 2015 12:16 AM Subject: Re: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? Interesting that the writer didn't mention the 'Both Sides Now' CD which, to my mind anyway, is more along the lines of what she was writing about. To me, 'Mingus' was Joni picking up the gauntlet that Mingus threw down, accepting the challenge, not about doing a Jazz album as a novelty item to revive a career. As the writer mentioned, Joni was pretty much riding the crest of her popularity at the time. The fact that she paid for it in terms of a loss of some of her radio airplay and fan base is not a really valid comment on the quality of the work. [...] The writer mentions Linda Ronstadt's recordings with the Nelson Riddle orchestra. Would you call Nelson Riddle a jazz artist? I think of his work more as very sophisticated pop than Jazz and I think of Linda's vocals on those records in the same way. Mark in Seattle ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2015 21:16:19 -0700 From: "Mark Scott" Subject: Re: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? Interesting that the writer didn't mention the 'Both Sides Now' CD which, to my mind anyway, is more along the lines of what she was writing about. To me, 'Mingus' was Joni picking up the gauntlet that Mingus threw down, accepting the challenge, not about doing a Jazz album as a novelty item to revive a career. As the writer mentioned, Joni was pretty much riding the crest of her popularity at the time. The fact that she paid for it in terms of a loss of some of her radio airplay and fan base is not a really valid comment on the quality of the work. Another thing that puzzles me is the reference to Annie Lennox decoupling 'bStrange Fruitb from its origins as a protest song about lynching.' I went and found that Tavis Smiley program and I don't see how she did that. She did call it a protest song but she also elaborated on how the subject of the song is exemplary of a flaw in human nature that has caused tremendous cruelty and suffering throughout recorded time. Personally, I love 'Nostalgia' and I wouldn't call it a jazz album per se. Annie puts her own stamp on each one of those songs and there aren't many singers that I would say are able to perform songs that were signature songs of Billie Holiday's who are able to pull them off as beautifully as Annie does. 'Nostalgia' is a mixture - some jazz, some pop, some blues, some R&B. I love her take on Ellington's 'Mood Indigo'. I wonder what Joni would think of that one? The writer mentions Linda Ronstadt's recordings with the Nelson Riddle orchestra. Would you call Nelson Riddle a jazz artist? I think of his work more as very sophisticated pop than Jazz and I think of Linda's vocals on those records in the same way. Mark in Seattle - -----Original Message----- From: Susan E. McNamara Sent: Monday, August 3, 2015 7:24 AM To: 'joni@smoe.org' Subject: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? Passable? Discuss ... http://tinyurl.com/onl6loa Sue Tierney McNamara Email: sem8@cornell.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2015 14:49:51 +0000 From: "Susan E. McNamara" Subject: RE: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? I had a revelation about Sweet Sucker Dance when it appeared on LHMF. What a performance. From: Bob.Muller@fluor.com [mailto:Bob.Muller@fluor.com] Sent: Monday, August 03, 2015 10:48 AM To: Susan E. McNamara Cc: 'joni@smoe.org' Subject: Re: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? An interesting topic...the writer makes more of a case about the nosedive in Joni's popularity versus her actual performance on Mingus. Of course you could easily argue that Joni's jazz voice started way beyond that. Joni herself admits that she knew Mingus would be a career killer. I still claim that the album contains some her purest singing, "Sweet Sucker Dance" in particular. Bob NP: Brian Eno & David Byrne, "One Fine Day". From: "Susan E. McNamara" > To: "'joni@smoe.org'" >, Date: 08/03/2015 10:28 AM Subject: TodaysZaman.com: Why Do Pop Singers Keep Releasing Jazz Albums? Sent by: owner-joni@smoe.org ________________________________ Passable? Discuss ... http://secure-web.cisco.com/14GR398N-gz-XDCIfYzzQXZeTsO2LpIxzWFt2t5ND8lNhFrCO GIxKSUtWRyteMvEgIfsHFkFy1Ct2PGsJTSku_r2vXq8oRJNax6rPkrmakEBxKlIvzkQ8FqHhlkKGu MdiXNfyr4XFmcswjuyy35b0fGAT1GmGfpkrcB0Cweh_QC0/http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Fonl 6loa Sue Tierney McNamara Email: sem8@cornell.edu - ------------------------------------------------------------ The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain proprietary, business-confidential and/or privileged material. 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(DJRD of course came out the year I was there.) Must have looked 15, though I didn't care about my looks. When I got to Dallas TX at 30, and began ballet lessons with a world class company, the professional dancers all thought I was 18. So I have been "blessed" with young looks. Now at 62 I am taken for late 40s usually; but I sure feel the aches of 60s. I just lost my dad, after Mom in 2010; his an excruciatingly lingering end and hers via dementia. (I take after her side in looks.) I cannot reconcile to either fate. But I am yet still blessed in many ways. SWEET BIRD and Don't Interrupt the Sorrow my favorites from THOSL, esp. SB! What a beautifully dreamy piece ... sigh :o) ...Songs To Aging Children Come ~Aging Children, I am One ~People hurry by so quickly ~Don't they hear the melodies ~In the chiming and the clicking And the laughing harmonies? Cordially, kK ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2015 #408 ***************************** ------- To post messages to the list,sendto joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------