From: les@jmdl.com (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2000 #341 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: les@jmdl.com Errors-To: les@jmdl.com Precedence: bulk Archives: http://www.smoe.org/lists/onlyjoni Websites: http://www.jmdl.com http://www.jonimitchell.com Unsubscribe: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe onlyJMDL Digest Wednesday, August 23 2000 Volume 2000 : Number 341 The 'Official' Joni Mitchell Homepage, created by Wally Breese, can be found at http://www.jonimitchell.com. It contains the latest news, a detailed bio, Original Interviews, essays, lyrics and much much more. --- The JMDL website can be found at http://www.jmdl.com and contains interviews, articles, the member gallery, archives, and much more. --- Ashara has set up a "Wally Breese Memorial Fund" with all donations going directly towards the upkeep of the website. Wally kept the website going with his own funds. it is now up to US to help Jim continue. If you would like to donate to this fund, please make all checks payable to: Jim Johanson and send them to: Ashara Stansfield P.O. Box 215 Topsfield, MA. 01983 USA ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- 08/26/00, Billboard Article SJC ["cassy" ] Re:NYTimes.com Article: For Joni Mitchell, Artist, Singing Was Not Enough [RoseMJoy@aol.] Joni In Today's New York Times ["Linda Montelione" ] Re: BSN-music questions [IVPAUL42@aol.com] BSN [Matthew Snyder ] Re: Sweet Sucker Dance [JRMCo1@aol.com] RE: BSN ["Wally Kairuz" ] While we're on the subject of BSN... [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] Covers Update [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] Happy Birthday chickiepoo! [evian ] ooops [evian ] Re: Sweet Sucker Dance [Mark Domyancich ] joni lyrics [zaide912@webtv.net] Lyrics ["william" ] NYT article ["MusicIsSpecial" ] Re: BSN [Kenny Grant ] Re: Sweet Sucker Dance [JRMCo1@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 19:54:45 -0400 From: "cassy" Subject: 08/26/00, Billboard Article SJC BILLBOARD MAGAZINE ARTICLE by Timothy White MUSIC TO MY EARS: Mellencamp's Acoustic Samaritans "I guess the point is to share the spirit of that old song, by just 'playing real good for free,' " said John Mellencamp, making a sandwich in the kitchenette of his tour bus as it pulled away from Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square. The song in question was Joni Mitchell's classic 1970 "Ladies Of The Canyon" track "For Free," and the bus Mellencamp stood in belongs to colleague Don Henley, but the sandwich was for John's young son Hud. The child was hungry after spending 70 minutes sitting placidly on an equipment case in the center of the park, watching and listening as his dad strummed more than a dozen familiar songs and obscure favorites for a stunned lunchtime throng of 400 fans. Like his offspring's meal, Mellencamp's unannounced outdoor concert was a Handcrafted, spur-of-the-moment repast. But contrary to Mitchell's folk/pop hymn, nobody "passed his music by." Indeed, sidewalks fringing the quaint square emptied as a ravenous crowd flocked onto the green from all directions to catch the casual performance. The site had been chosen scarcely an hour before, and Chicago violinist Merritt Lear and accordionist Mike Flynn (guesting from the Indiana band Old Pike) set up the portable amps and battery-powered P.A. system. John walked over with wife Elaine, toting his vintage acoustic guitar (emblazoned with a hand-drawn eagle and a "Fuck Fascism" slogan), and he paused under the trees to check its tuning. Moments later, Mellencamp launched into a hearty rendition of the traditional blues spiritual "In My Time Of Dying," as a nearby bicyclist hollered, "Hey, man, that's John Cougar!" while his jogging companion barked, "Huh? No way!" The sun sprang out from behind threatening clouds as a grinning Mellencamp eased through a relaxed repertoire highlighted by the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man"; "Cut Across Shorty," the Marijohn Wilkin/Wayne P. Walker raver popularized by Eddie Cochran and Rod Stewart; Donovan's 1970 hit "Riki Tiki Tavi"; Mellencamp's own "Pink Houses" and "Big Daddy Of Them All"; and choice Midwestern pop nuggets like "Captain Bobby Stout," off the 1969 LP "The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood." "I saw the Jerry Hahn Brotherhood play that song in Indianapolis in 1971," Mellencamp later recalled as his bus sped onto the interstate en route to Massachusetts. "They opened for Frank Zappa at an old converted movie house-turned-rock palace called Middle Earth." Hahn hailed from Wichita, Kan., and his band's song immortalized a local deputy police chief who later became executive director of the Wichita Crime Commission. Mellencamp retains fond memories of his first encounters with such "great, old hippie rock songs," and over the course of his 11-day August trek-which was actually an itinerant family camping trip with unscheduled musical pit stops-he hoped to Reintroduce a menu of similar material to unsuspecting audiences. Peering out the bus window as it roared through New Jersey, John held his guitar in his lap and indicated the working set list taped to its side, whose 20-odd scrawled selections also included the Stones' "The Spider And The Fly" and "Dead Flowers," "Last Of The Rock Stars" (off Elliott Murphy's 1973 "Aquashow" album), the Animals' "Hey Gyp," plus some Woody Guthrie ("Oklahoma Hills") and Bob Dylan ("All Along The Watchtower"). The next day, Mellencamp was seated before a log fire at his self-dubbed "Mellencampsite" in Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park outside of Old Sturbridge Village, Mass., watching as Elaine and sons Hud and Speck scurried between Yogi's Petting Zoo, Boo Boo's Aqua Center swimming pool, and Pine Lake. "My family loves this place!" he said with a big grin, stirring the coals. "But I was never much of a camper or woodsman myself as a kid. I got kicked out of Cub Scouts after one week! And the one time I remember camping with my family as a kid in Bloomington, Ind., my mom got so mad at me for general mischief that she left and walked all the way home!" The occasion for this current atypical road trip was Mellencamp's late-summer hiatus between the recent wrap of location filming in Rochester, N.Y., for "After Image," a murder mystery (in which he stars in the role of a crime-scene photographer) expected to premiere at the next Sundance Film Festival, and the completion of his next album, which he's been cutting in Key West, Fla. "We had some off-time to take our kids around to state parks and family recreation spots before they have to head back to school," he explained. "It was strictly no-stress, and I suddenly get the idea to make a little music the same way. Since my band was also on vacation, I invited Mike and his friend Merritt to come along with us to help eat the marshmellows and chase our boys, and we're just making up free gigs as we go." The whimsical title coined for the musical side of the journey is "Live In The Streets: The Good Samaritan Tour," a notion inspired by Tony Tingle, a Kentucky buddy of Mellencamp's who once ruminated about quitting his day job, loading his tools in a truck, and heading into the sunset to spend a few months helping anyone gratis that he encountered along the roadside. "I loved that idea," said Mellencamp, "and I decided to take along my own tools as we traveled in the Northeast and Midwest, spreading cheer without looking for a paycheck." Following a little mid-morning reconnaissance in the Boston area on Aug. 13, Mellencamp and company hopped out next to the Harvard campus and placed their milkbox-size amps in front of the fountain in J.F.K. Park. As rollerbladers and Frisbee tossers frolicked along the stretch of meadow between Memorial Drive and the River Charles, the familiar strains of "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" lofted over the bucolic corner of Cambridge, Mass., and drew 400 disbelieving spectators to the scene. By the concluding number, "Pink Houses," some onlookers were in tears. "Why is he doing this?" asked one woman with kids. "For our families, I think," replied another, pointing to Hud and Speck, who were playing tag with children in the crowd. Two days later, in downtown Pittsburgh, word-of-mouth and clues posted on Mellencamp's Web site led 3,000 people to assemble in Market Square, assuming that would be a likely site for the next "Samaritan" show. Actually no place had been picked yet, but Mellencamp hurried over to the ad hoc rallying point. Twenty-four hours onward, Cleveland's Public Square had 4,000 people waiting on him, so he obliged. Locales in the Detroit and Chicago areas were scheduled to complete the remaining itinerary, and Mellencamp accepted that he should stop scouting for locations and just turn up where his congregated fans decided he should logically be. "I've already learned a lot from this experience," said Mellencamp, as he settled into his Michigan "Mellencampsite" and anticipated the final stops on his pilgrimage. "This has been for the joy of the music rather than a job. It's been about pleasure rather than pressure. Once people see we've only got this tiny bit of sound equipment, they get quiet as mice. I can see why people have such an emotional response when we play like this, because they can really feel it's for all of us together. My wife, my boys, Merritt, and Mike, we all got a lot out of it. Nobody's selling anything, there's no souvenirs-except what's in everybody's heart. Think about it: Isn't that where music started? To anybody who's said thank you to me, I say, 'You're very nice, but, really, thank you.' " ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 21:08:04 EDT From: RoseMJoy@aol.com Subject: Re:NYTimes.com Article: For Joni Mitchell, Artist, Singing Was Not Enough Thanks Chris for the article. I wonder where the "Voices" exhibit will travel next? New York (I wish) I would sure love to see that 40 below 0 in person before somebody buys it, or maybe nobody buys it and it sits up in a loft somewhere Rose in NJ. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 21:33:15 -0400 From: "Linda Montelione" Subject: Joni In Today's New York Times There's an excellent article in today's New York Times about Joni and the Saskatoon exhibition. It really gets into Joni's feelings about painting. I wish I knew how to provide a link. It's very worth reading. It contains several great quotes. Two among them: Referring to the painting 40 Below 0, "There were the prairies, the stretch of the wind, the movement of the clouds, the skies, all lilac-y and yellow. The windbreak was burgundy, the snow was all pink with the sun going down. It was such a rush of color. To be so cold it could kill you in 15 minutes and yet look so warm. I felt like a salmon smelling its native stream." Just beautiful! For those of us who've seen the painting, doesn't this excite your memory! And for those who haven't (yet?) seen it, these words will certainly help enliven any reproduction of it . And this: "Of all painters I felt most kindred to, I felt most touched by van Gogh. Van Gogh was impulsive. For him, art was like sex on the kitchen table." Ha! Our Joan! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 21:41:05 EDT From: IVPAUL42@aol.com Subject: Re: BSN-music questions In a message dated 8/22/00 6:07:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, m.harmssen@t-online.de writes: << yes, torture him with ice-cold Northern Canadian JM cushions >> Oh NO! Not the comfy chair and soft cushions!. Anything but that, please!! Aaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! ;>) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 21:53:46 -0400 From: Matthew Snyder Subject: BSN M - Whether you intended to or not, you wrote quite a condescending open letter to Ms. Mitchell. Much of your prose seems to be an attempt to educate Joni via NAME DROPPING, whether it's BILLY COBHAM, OLIVER MESSIAEN, SINATRA, or BRUCE HORNSBY. Please spare us and her: I'm fairly confident she's heard these names before. Given your encyclopedic musical knowledge, I'm surprised that in the midst of your mania and anger over how much BSN sounds like your hero SINATRA, you didn't catch on that large swaths of the Mendoza orchestrations sound nothing at all like NELSON RIDDLE (not to mention that Joni doesn't even try to sound like FRANK). In fact, the brightness of the brass and woodwind mixes suggest GIL EVANS much more than RIDDLE. (And Gil was quite far from "middle of the road.") You snivel at the idea that the audible musical elements that supply us this information are not very important, which makes me question your listening ability. These "bits and pieces that will tell the trained listener" are not just obvious to the "trained listener," they are audible to anyone with curiosity and functioning ears. Are you sure you're a musician? To add insult to injury, you say: >No. 5 - except definitely experienced musicians with an appropriate background >who will be able to tell just by neglectable details that it is not, was the >basically outdated sound of the music a well- conceived purpose from beginning to >end ? Again, the more you listen, the more you hear. Details are only "neglectable" if you let them be. Why listen to music if you're going to ignore most of it? My honest suggestion to you is become a more experienced LISTENER, meaning listen to more music, and give BSN another try. It doesn't mean you'll love it, but it might make you rethink your knee-jerk reaction (i.e. "it sounds like big-band music from the forties with a singer, so it must sound like Sinatra. How boring for my enlightened early 21st century ears!"). >No. 6 - are you aware of the fact that, given a different, to make the point in >question, a more traditional jazz singer, would turn the whole thing completely >upside down in terms of ambience, emotion & direction ? There's really no other response appropriate here except: No shit, Sherlock. Joni KNOWS what jazz is, believe it or not. Mingus believed she knew what the hell it was, so did your hero JACO and even MILES DAVIS. She definitely knows some other singer would perform the stuff differently. If you want a "traditional jazz singer" go out and buy some disks by ANITA O'DAY or SARAH VAUGHN and stop dumping on the stuck-between-music-industry-labels JONI MITCHELL. In reponse to the guitar/piano issue, someone else already pointed out that whole reason the record happened was because she felt so charged after performing in front of an orchestra. What use would her guitar have been on those tunes? She didn't write them and would have had to adapt one of her dozens of tunings to the task (or go back to playing in standard tuning decades after escaping it). And why piano? If she wanted a soloist she had Herbie at her beck and call (last I checked, he's a better pianist than she is). The orchestrations were so rich that piano would have been redundant on the ballads in any case. And yes, I may be a "trained listener" (read: "musician"), but I reiterate that anybody with ears and a healthy listening habit can detect stuff like this. Judging from the contributors of this forum, that includes many of the people who post here. I should add the caveat that I too wish Joni Mitchell would return to writing new material, but I'm happy to have BSN. If nothing else, it reminded me that there are indeed always new ways to present excellent musical material, no matter what year it was written or by whom. Matt Snyder msnyder@dragonfire.net http://msnyder.dragonfire.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 21:59:11 EDT From: JRMCo1@aol.com Subject: Re: Sweet Sucker Dance Here's the latest... This might just happen. Keep your collective fingers crossed. We might even get video! - -Julius - -----Original Message----- From: Cassandra Flipper [mailto:cflipper@breadandroses.org] Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 4:58 PM To: Julius Mills Subject: Re: Joni Mitchell Bread & Roses Performance Dear Julius: Thanks for your interest in Bread & Roses. I will have to do some research to determine whether we have either audio or video tape of the Joni Mitchell performance. Please give me a few days, and we'll get back to you. Cassandra >Dear Cassandra: > >I am a big supporter of the work your organization does. I was saddened to >learn of Mimi's illness a few months back. I do hope things turn around for >her soon. As a published writer, I am going to submit an application to be >a Bread & Roses volunteer today. I'm touched by positive impact of Bread & >Roses and I would like to do my part to help out. > >I called your offices today and spoke to a very kind "Karen" with regard to >a request. I am a ardent admirer of Joni Mitchell. I am aware that she >performed a Bread & Roses concert at the Berkeley Greek Theater back in '79 >with Herbie Hancock, B.B. King and others. I was wondering if it would be >possible for me to have a tape of her performance, please? I live in >Larkspur near your headquarters. I was thinking that if it were not >possible to obtain a tape, I wonder if i could perhaps stop by and listen to >recording at you offices. > >Thank you for taking the time to read this message. Best of luck with your >important work going forward. > >-Julius Mills ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 23:43:18 -0300 From: "Wally Kairuz" Subject: RE: BSN matthew, you make a very compelling point here. maybe i too NEED to listen to BSN more to hear more. i can't promise a review worthy of the genius of marcel d'este, but i'll give the album a month and write my impressions song by song, FWIW. wallyk ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 23:08:02 EDT From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: While we're on the subject of BSN... A couple weeks back I picked up a tape for a buck at the record store. It was the New York Rock & Soul Revue from a couple of years ago, with Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, Phoebe Snow, Charles Brown, etc. I got it for the Steely Dan content, but was really blown away by the whole show! Phoebe Snow just tears up "At Last" on it, I mean she just wails! Which got me thinking about the definitive versions of the songs on Joni's BSN project. I know Etta James haad a hit with At Last, Lena Horne with Stormy Weather, Billie Holliday with Comes Love, Nat King Cole with Answer Me, My Love...were there definitive/hit versions of the other songs on the record? Specifically: You're My Thrill You've Changed Don't Go To Strangers Sometimes I'm Happy Don't Worry 'Bout Me I Wish I Were In Love Again Of course, we all know that Hole has the definitive version of BSN, or is it Jim Nabors? Or Leonard Nimoy? :~) Bob NP: Joe Jackson, "The In Crowd" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 23:24:34 EDT From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Covers Update Covers are Marching On! The past couple days have added a few new ones to the fold: Andy Williams, "BSN" Fourplay, "River" Larry Goldings Trio, "Woodstock" Traut/Rodby, "All I Want" Charles Mingus, "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" And some more on the way...Volume 10 will soon be history! Check out the list of songs on JMDL.com! (Joni Undercover) Thanks to Boston Jim, Jimmy the Skating Fool, and Fred Simon, especially for getting the rare out-of-print Traut/Rodby! Speaking of Fred,he also is sharing one of his own Joni covers, "Michael From Mountains" with us on this Volume...those of you you have Fred's CD "Songs of My Youth, Volume 1" KNOW already that it is EXCELLENT. I heard it today for the first time (and the second and the third) and was very moved by the sheer beauty of it. Fred combines the percussive power of the piano with melodicism, always using precisely the right feel, crafting a real gem of a tribute to songs that he (and we all) know by heart, yet he places his unique stamp on them all - truly a remarkable effort. I highly suggest you check out this disc if you don't have it! Call BR-549 or send a message to Fred @ FredNow@aol.com PS: Fred is not shuffling any advertising budget to me, I just happen to think this is a gorgeous record and am also delighted that he calls it Volume 1 as it means more will be forthcoming! Jody, please stuff Fred in a duffle bag and bring him Ashara's!! Bob NP: Joe Jackson, "Home Town" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 21:57:46 -0600 From: evian Subject: Happy Birthday chickiepoo! Ashara Darlin'! A happy, happy, happy birthday to you!!!!! Hope you had a great day, and I'll call ya this weekend if I end up staying in town. Love ya, Rob ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 21:59:09 -0600 From: evian Subject: ooops Ooops, sorry to you non Joni Content people, I meant to send the last email to Ashara, not to the list -- I beg forgiveness! Happy Wednesday y'all, Rob ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 23:10:19 -0500 From: Mark Domyancich Subject: Re: Sweet Sucker Dance Julius- If you do get a chance to get it, the 1980 show is the one you want. Joni performed three times at B&R: 1978 solo, 1979 with the Shadows and Light band and 1980 with Herbie and BB. At 9:59 PM -0400 8/22/00, JRMCo1@aol.com wrote: >Here's the latest... This might just happen. Keep your collective >fingers crossed. We might even get video! > > >I called your offices today and spoke to a very kind "Karen" with regard to >>a request. I am a ardent admirer of Joni Mitchell. I am aware that she >>performed a Bread & Roses concert at the Berkeley Greek Theater back in '79 >>with Herbie Hancock, B.B. King and others. I was wondering if it would be >>possible for me to have a tape of her performance, please? I live in >>Larkspur near your headquarters. I was thinking that if it were not >>possible to obtain a tape, I wonder if i could perhaps stop by and listen to > >recording at you offices. - -- Mark Domyancich Harpua@revealed.net tape trading: http://homepage.mac.com/mtd/ "Close it yourself, shitty!" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 00:31:05 -0400 (EDT) From: zaide912@webtv.net Subject: joni lyrics One of my favorite passages: "....you go down to the pick-up station craving warmth and beauty. You settle for less than fascination, a few drinks later you're not so choosy. When the closing lights strip off the shadows on this strange new flesh you found, Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf you hurry, to the blackness, and the blankets, to lay down an impression and your loneliness..." "Down to You" Court and Spark Love & Peace Kevin NP: Marc Almond "Threat of Love" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 11:44:01 +0700 From: "william" Subject: Lyrics Rather than opting for isolated lines/verses, of which there are too many to choose from, I will go for the entire song/poem/lyrics of the title track on DJRD. Eagle and the serpent; snake kite flying; boxcars down there; coils around feathers and talons on scales; one fighting for blind desire the other for clarity. The breadth of imagery using the mere two juxtapositions of the eagle and the snake. You and I, you and I, you and I oh you and I. Awesomely creative and clever. But tomorrow I'll choose another song for the same reasons. Willy the Shake NP - Barangrill ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 23:56:45 -0500 From: "MusicIsSpecial" Subject: NYT article I agree the article was light-weight but I did like the photo of Joni. Might be the best picture of her in middle age I have seen (though I haven't seen that many) Eric ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 01:38:05 +0000 From: Kenny Grant Subject: Re: BSN Hey guys, 1st, I'm not a muscian - But Joni *IS* - and a real choosey one at that (just look at the acknowledgements on the Mingus album of the fine musicians who didn't make the final cut.) And although I might not have "musician-trained" ears, there are no flaws with my hearing. BUT I've listened to Joni back to back (vocally and arrangement-wise,) with others who've popularized the original songs - be it Hancock's Gershwin's World or BSN (from Etta James to Billie Holiday to Sara Vaughn, etc., etc) and while I will not make the statement that Joni is BETTER, what I will say is that Joni is Joni. She despises "copycats" - always has - and has a need to add her own unique STYLE to whatever she does. Her choice of accompaniment with a large orchestra was exactly that - "the lady's choice." (She's spoken of the virtually "untapped" powers/qualitites of the synth and other musical technologies.) That's all I have to say on the matter. Best, -Kenny npimh: Roberta Flack, "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (specifically "I heard 'she' had a style") Matthew Snyder wrote: > M - > > Whether you intended to or not, you wrote quite a condescending open letter > to Ms. Mitchell. Much of your prose seems to be an attempt to educate Joni > via NAME DROPPING, whether it's BILLY COBHAM, OLIVER MESSIAEN, SINATRA, or > BRUCE HORNSBY. Please spare us and her: I'm fairly confident she's heard > these names before. > > Given your encyclopedic musical knowledge, I'm surprised that in the midst > of your mania and anger over how much BSN sounds like your hero SINATRA, > you didn't catch on that large swaths of the Mendoza orchestrations sound > nothing at all like NELSON RIDDLE (not to mention that Joni doesn't even > try to sound like FRANK). In fact, the brightness of the brass and > woodwind mixes suggest GIL EVANS much more than RIDDLE. (And Gil was quite > far from "middle of the road.") You snivel at the idea that the audible > musical elements that supply us this information are not very important, > which makes me question your listening ability. These "bits and pieces > that will tell the trained listener" are not just obvious to the "trained > listener," they are audible to anyone with curiosity and functioning ears. > Are you sure you're a musician? > > To add insult to injury, you say: > > >No. 5 - except definitely experienced musicians with an appropriate > background > >who will be able to tell just by neglectable details that it is not, was the > >basically outdated sound of the music a well- conceived purpose from > beginning to > >end ? > > Again, the more you listen, the more you hear. Details are only > "neglectable" if you let them be. Why listen to music if you're going to > ignore most of it? My honest suggestion to you is become a more > experienced LISTENER, meaning listen to more music, and give BSN another > try. It doesn't mean you'll love it, but it might make you rethink your > knee-jerk reaction (i.e. "it sounds like big-band music from the forties > with a singer, so it must sound like Sinatra. How boring for my > enlightened early 21st century ears!"). > > >No. 6 - are you aware of the fact that, given a different, to make the > point in > >question, a more traditional jazz singer, would turn the whole thing > completely > >upside down in terms of ambience, emotion & direction ? > > There's really no other response appropriate here except: No shit, > Sherlock. Joni KNOWS what jazz is, believe it or not. Mingus believed she > knew what the hell it was, so did your hero JACO and even MILES DAVIS. She > definitely knows some other singer would perform the stuff differently. If > you want a "traditional jazz singer" go out and buy some disks by ANITA > O'DAY or SARAH VAUGHN and stop dumping on the > stuck-between-music-industry-labels JONI MITCHELL. > > In reponse to the guitar/piano issue, someone else already pointed out that > whole reason the record happened was because she felt so charged after > performing in front of an orchestra. What use would her guitar have been > on those tunes? She didn't write them and would have had to adapt one of > her dozens of tunings to the task (or go back to playing in standard tuning > decades after escaping it). And why piano? If she wanted a soloist she > had Herbie at her beck and call (last I checked, he's a better pianist than > she is). The orchestrations were so rich that piano would have been > redundant on the ballads in any case. And yes, I may be a "trained > listener" (read: "musician"), but I reiterate that anybody with ears and a > healthy listening habit can detect stuff like this. Judging from the > contributors of this forum, that includes many of the people who post here. > > I should add the caveat that I too wish Joni Mitchell would return to > writing new material, but I'm happy to have BSN. If nothing else, it > reminded me that there are indeed always new ways to present excellent > musical material, no matter what year it was written or by whom. > > Matt Snyder > msnyder@dragonfire.net > http://msnyder.dragonfire.net > > > > > > > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 01:47:31 EDT From: JRMCo1@aol.com Subject: Re: Sweet Sucker Dance > Thanks, Mark. I didn't know that. Now, of course, I want them all! The 1980 show is still key though, due to SSD's rarity. We'll see. - -Julius ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2000 #341 ********************************* ------- Post messages to the list at ------- Siquomb, isn't she?