From: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2010 #352 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org 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 Friday, December 24 2010 Volume 2010 : Number 352 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- RE: DJRD thread ["Robert Sartorius" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 11:37:33 -0500 From: "Robert Sartorius" Subject: RE: DJRD thread Jack wrote, as part of this excellent thread: "I think Joni was at the height of her musical powers during this period, and to me, DJRD represents her musical peak (though nothing can touch Hejira from a lyrical perspective). Her interplay with Jaco is just amazing on DJRD. How I wish they made a few more albums together." Catherine's comments re the role of Tenth World as dream-connector between Otis&Marlena and Dreamland were also typically right on target. In a sense, Bob M's reaction to (Russ's?) comment re DJRD's listenability triggered this discussion - probably as designed. As a listenter, I have run the entire gamut of reactions to DJRD. I have been a real Joni "fan" since 1970, but struggled with her post-Court and Spark records at the time of their release(s). I confessed even then that my reaction stemmed from my own limitations as a listener to absorb the more complex musical forms contained in these then-newer works, but in my ignorance I strongly suspected that Joni just wasn't "that good" at the more jazz-inflected style of music she was now proferring. It was not until this century that my tastes / ability to absorb musically had advanced sufficientlly for me to appreciate how wrong I was about my aforementioned suspicions. And so, I have had two periods of Joni discovery (feeling like I was just being born) - the early 70's and the early 00's. Even so, I came to embrace Hejira and Hissing markedly before DJRD. Then, at some point, DBJRD really sank in. I was crazy about the record for a full year (listening to it more than any other Joni by far), and I continue to do so. I concur that it was her musical peak. Even after I first embraced it, though, I was ambivalent about Jericho, Paprika Plains and Tenth World. In fact, I was openly critical of Tenth World. Of course, as usual, I misunderstood its role in the work of art. Now I think I understand. And, I think it needs to be 7 minutes to serve its purpose. Taking a broad view of the record, I see it as beginning with three vignettes depicting more or less conscious, everyday challenges - finding a special place to be yourself and escape from life's day-to-day, finding someone to talk to and share your experiences with, and finding someone to love and connect with amid life's demands, even if it means speaking of love in terms of "compromise and sacrifice" - to quote from a later revisitation of this theme. While I continue to find Jericho a bit shallow in perspective - - "try" being a weak word of semi-commitment IMO - Joni's perspective is probably more realistic than my own romantic one, and more universal. Still, it is the commitment to "do" rather than merely "try" that brings success, perhaps even in a love relationship. But I digress. The record then changes direction into its dream quatrain - PP, O&M, TTW and Dreamland - out of which emerges the blazingly epiphanous DJRD - real and visceral, yet strung together via nearly-out-of-control imagery. Then "back to earth" with Off Night Backstreet and Silky Veils of Ardor, and we have returned full circle to Joni's earlier themes. I am spent. Can you imagine how she must have felt producing this record? It is magnificently structured. A day in the life, or perhaps a month, or a year. Throughout, the music fits the lyrical feel, and vice versa. "I feel your fingers touching my face - there are some lines you put there, and some you erase." So, I certainly agree with Bob - it is a challenging record. But it can keep you up at night, restless for ..... And I certainly agree with Jack - Joni had really "taken off" - almost 'out of orbit' - at that point in her artistice journey, and her collaboration with Jaco was a catalyst for that. I recall having posted a few years ago that I found Mingus to be an interruption of that other-worldly phase of her journey - where might it have led had Mingus not called? But others felt otherwise - if I recall correctly, David Lahm (whose musical instincts I am in no position to challenge) felt Mingus was a natural next stop in the journey. To me, however, the difference was that DJRD was all Joni's music, and Mingus was not. I would have been interested in the next step of Joni as composer. By the time Mingus was done, Joni may have felt spent and/or pressure to re-connect with her base, so we never really found out (few would see Wild Things Run Fast as the extension of DJRD). But we did get the Shadows and Light tour to complete the circle, and who would have wanted to have missed that? Finally, I agree with Bob M that Travelogue is challenging to listen to. However, for me it has been well worth the dozens and dozens of listenings - each one rewards in a new way for me. Maybe it's just the time of life - if you weren't in your 50's (or even perhaps your 60's) when you first heard it, I suggest you give it another shot when you get to "your right time". Bobsart ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2010 #352 ********************************* ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe