From: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2011 #407 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 Thursday, January 19 2012 Volume 2011 : Number 407 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- RE: Joni Progression ["Robert Sartorius" ] progression [ava rosenblum ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:14:39 -0500 From: "Robert Sartorius" Subject: RE: Joni Progression I have enjoyed this thread also. I am old enough to have followed Joni from the very start, but did not. My order was LOTC, Blue, STAS, Clouds, then the rest in order until CMIARS, which I did not buy. I got back in with TI (but not until 2000), then back to NRH and CMIARS. I've got em all now. The story behind the pathway is that from the early 60s (when I first started listening to all that pop) I listened to AM radio, then became a Beatles fan, then listened to FM in college. The rest I picked up an album's worth at a time here and there (though I did not listen to much folk, even though I played some guitar). I picked up on Simon and Garfunkel and then some later PP&M. I liked CSN's and CSN Y's first efforts, and also was attracted to Judy Collins's Wildflowers. My roommate, seeing how much I liked that record, borrowed his girlfriend's copy of LOTC for me to give a listen to. (I knew Joni Mitchell had written BSN and MFM, but had never heard her perform). I was drawn to her less classical (than Judy's) singing style in a strange way - who was this woman with the strident voice, but so musical at the same time? The more I listened, the more I was drawn in - the whole record was like an earworm for me. This was fall of 1970. I brought the record home at Christmas break and asked my dad to listen (he was a classical music fan). He was indifferent to it (as he was to almost all of the "pop" I listened to), but The Arrangement really struck a chord with him (apparently, he listened to the lyrics and related to them strongly). Oddly, it was the song I liked least on the record at that time. Now, with my career and family raising pretty much behind me, I have caught up with my dad (RIP). When Blue was released in 1971, I bought it shortly therafter. I was pretty much a zombie listening to it that summer. Simple as it may have been musically by Dave's standards, I found the songs quite sophisticated by pop standards - particularly the sweeping melodies (All I Want, Carey, California, River, A Case of You) and the convoluted but rewarding harmonic lines of My Old Man and Blue. I was crazy about the piano work and lyrics of Richard, too. I was amazed - and hooked. The Beatles were history. I listened to C/S/N/Y, JT, CK, Cat Stevens, Simon and enjoyed them all. But none of them could touch Joni's all around excellence. Not close. I was also mesmerized with FTR and with most of C&S (though I thought the record leaned more and more toward jazz as it went from song 1 to song 11 or whatever). Perhaps a harbinger of styles to come. She lost me with THOSL and then even with Hejira (I did not mind the switch to an electric guitar sound, but I did not understand the subserviance of melody to harmonic line). I could not warm up to those records, and barely listened to DJRD. I was mystified by Mingus, and did not think much of the reversal in form with WTRF - and even less of DED. I quit for a while. I picked up TI only in the year 2000 or so, liked it, then bought NRH, liked it, then revisited THOSL, Hejira and DJRD and was blown away. Apparently, my ear had improved with age. What a rewarding progression. Those three records are among my favorites now. To have "re-discovered" them so late in life was rejuvinating. Unlike most here, I also have had many dozens of hours of enjoyment listening to Travelogue - I think it documents in classical form most of her most important compositions, and is an important work. Oddly, my college yearbook (Stony Brook, class of 1970) has more photos of Joni than of any other person. Her concert was a big deal there (the one in which she eviscerated the audience for booing Tim Hardin). But I missed the concert - hadn't heard of her yet. What a dope. I also missed the TNT tribute concert, which was held across the street from my office - because I had not yet joined the JMDL. After changes upon changes we are more or less the same, I guess. But I did catch her in 1972 at Carnegie Hall. Won't forget that one. I would also like to acknowledge the importance of the JMDL tabs (thanks again to Sue and Howard and Marian et al) to my enjoyment of Joni's music. Prior to discovering them, I could play only a couple of Joni's songs in the style of the recording. (I could mimic lots of the other artists I enjoyed, but did not have the time or talent to work out Joni's stuff). To be able to sit and play them for the past 10 years or so has been a source of much pleasure and satisfaction. Bobsart ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:27:57 -0600 From: ava rosenblum Subject: progression My boyfriend introduced me to BLUE in college in about 1974. And thus began the journey. :) ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2011 #407 ********************************* ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe