From: les@jmdl.com (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2000 #59 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: les@jmdl.com Errors-To: les@jmdl.com Precedence: bulk onlyJMDL Digest Saturday, February 12 2000 Volume 2000 : Number 059 The Official Joni Mitchell Homepage is maintained by Wally Breese at http://www.jonimitchell.com and contains the latest news, a detailed bio, original interviews and essays, lyrics, and much more. ------- The JMDL website can be found at http://www.jmdl.com and contains interviews, articles, the member gallery, archives, and much more. ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: BSN [FredNow@aol.com] Re: Joni on National ["rick novosel" ] Re: 2nd in a Trilogy [FredNow@aol.com] Re: Both Sides Later [FredNow@aol.com] Re: BSN lithos ["Eric Taylor" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 01:44:55 EST From: FredNow@aol.com Subject: Re: BSN zapuppy2@webtv.net (Penny) wrote: >>(Thank God, [my parents] weren't into >>country! ;-) Hey ... what's wrong with country music?! - -Fred ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 23:35:44 -0800 From: "rick novosel" Subject: Re: Joni on National Evian lamented: > Anyway, the whole interview was so uncomfortable for me to watch. > The guy obviously didn't do much research, and thus all his questions > were the worst possible ones... the ones any Joni fan would KNOW not to > ask. In a nutshell, the thing made her look cranky and defensive, and > it really pissed me off. Frigging CBC never gets anything right. The interviewer was Ross Porter, an extremely knowledgeable jazz critic, who has been playing Joni's recent jazz forays on his After Hours jazz program on CBC for years now. I couldn't understand where he was headed with his questions but, Good God, he certainly set Joni off on a wonderful near-tirade aimed at pop culture, the media, and the music business. I didn't feel uncomfortable watching because imho Joni was obviously relishing the opportunity to expound on the iniquity of how she's been treated all these years while at the same time being stunned that even someone like Porter still didn't get it. We all know how outspoken and almost arrogant she can sound but as my wife said, "How can you argue with anything she said?" She was glorious! Fabulous snippets of early concerts. I checked the CBC web-site and, true to form, they have her labelled as JM, Canadian folksinger!!!!! (No pictures or transcriptions yet.) The web-site does post QuickTime videos of some of their Magazine segments so I'll keep an eye out for it. If it doesn't show up I'll try my hand at a transcription but I'm no court reporter so that may be easier said then done. I did videotape it but I don't have the ability to duplicate videos. Oh yeah, I also audio-taped it so perhaps it could be added to a tape tree somehow. Rick, re-kindling his thirty-two year love affair with Joni ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 02:44:54 EST From: FredNow@aol.com Subject: Re: 2nd in a Trilogy Susan McNamara wrote: >>excerpt from the Billboard article: >>>The next project will feature Mitchell's music in a symphonic setting. "You >>>know, it will be stuff like ["Judgement Of The Moon And Stars (Ludwig's >>>Tune)"]," from 1972's "For The Roses." I had to do it low budget with just >>>one violin player originally. So it would be a thrill to take material and >>>orchestrate it for a big orchestra." >>The ramifications of this statement are mindbending!! awesome!! >>You're my thrill, joan!! :-) Amen to that. Well, I had to send back my first copy of BSN, but the second was clean. The funked up copy wouldn't play A Case Of You, so I listened to what I could until the replacement arrived. Last night I went straight to you A Case Of You, and then skipped to Both Sides, Now. Wow ... oh, wow ... double wow. Now, of course, I love the record as a whole, and dig Joni as jazz interpreter, which she has really learned to do well since her first attempts (Centerpiece, Twisted). But what really, really, excites me are her two tunes (especially A Case Of You, which is a stone masterpiece in every way conceivable) for a couple of reasons. The first being (as anyone reading my posts of late could easily guess) that her older tunes have the abundant melodic and harmonic magic I don't find in her later work ... hearing these incredible renditions only cements that feeling. The second reason is that her own tunes are in her native tongue; the standards are in a foreign language which she speaks extremely well, fluently, even, but foreign nonetheless. And, to be honest, as much as I love standards and have played them on my gigs for decades, Joni's own tunes, the older ones, at least, are in *my* own native tongue, too. This is why the proposed record of her own older (I hope) tunes, like The Judgement Of The Moon And The Stars, with orchestral arrangements (hopefully done by the brilliant Vince Mendoza again), jazz rhythm section, and jazz soloists, makes me positively salivate with anticipation ... *that's* the record I want to hear right now! - -Fred ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 02:49:19 EST From: FredNow@aol.com Subject: Re: Both Sides Later Martin Giles wrote: >>I guess the orchestral arrangements, like the hatbox and lithographs >>are all superfluous for me >>PS. Can anyone tell me who the arrangers, engineers and producers are >>on the album? (Superflous information I know, but I'm trying to get >>in the spirit of things. ;-) The producers? You might have heard of them ... Joni Mitchell and Larry Klein. Far from superfluous (insert emoticon here) Also far from superfluous, the arranger is Vince Mendoza, who is a brilliant composer in his own right, and equally brilliant arranger who has worked with many great jazz artists, including Peter Erskine, John Scofield, Ralph Towner, and The YellowJackets. Mendoza's own albums are fantastic, particularly Start Here and his most recent, Epiphany, an album of his compositions arranged for orchestra (London Symphony) and small jazz group (including Peter Erskine), which was nominated for a Grammy this year. And the jazz artists on BSN are nothing short of some of the greatest the music has ever known: Wayne Shorter (sax), Herbie Hancock (piano), Peter Erskine (drums), and Mark Isham (trumpet). As you can probably tell, I really disagree with the notion that the orchestral arrangements are mere window dressing ... they are integral, part and parcel of the musical statement, they are what this record is about -- Joni's vocal interpretations in the context of smart, soulful, inspired, well-crafted orchestral arrangements, jazz rhythm section, and jazz soloists. Sure, she could do it alone with a guitar, but that would be a different statement ... equally valid but not ipso facto superior. - -Fred ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 02:29:08 -0800 From: "Eric Taylor" Subject: Re: BSN lithos Bob commented: << I had almost the opposite first take on the paintings; they look to me like some of old paint by numbers kits people used to do. She uses some nice colors, but if she wasn't "Joni Mitchell", these paintings would never be seen by the public aside from showing up in a yard sale. >> I think you're just upset that Joni is quitting songwriting for awhile to master her extraordinary painting skills. I find her self-portrait stunning - the detail in the smoke, hair & shadows are so fresh, yet somehow classic. I don't think it's possible to truly appreciate the magnitude of Joni's genius if any aspect of her evolving artistry is discounted before given a fair viewing or listening. But, of course, there's no accounting for bad taste.... ;~D E.T. __________________________________________ NetZero - Defenders of the Free World Get your FREE Internet Access and Email at http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2000 #59 ******************************** Don't forget about these ongoing projects: Glossary project: Send a blank message to for all the details. 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