I adore Joni Mitchell but...

[magiccarpetride]

I find her album "Ladies of the Canyon" hard to listen to.

[willbewill]

And it's my favourite, it's the jazz stuff that I can't get on with.

[Gordon Steadman]

But the jazz stuff is brilliant

Ladies of the canyon is also brilliant

And so is just about every album she made. Hejira is my favourite but folk are allowed their own taste...allegedly.

[magiccarpetride]

And it's my favourite, it's the jazz stuff that I can't get on with.

Heh, funny how we're the exact opposite. Mind you, I adore "Blue", so I'm not averse to her full throttle country/folk style. It's just that "Ladies of the Canyon" sounds so, so dated, with Joni's vocalizations grating on my ears.

[magiccarpetride]

But the jazz stuff is brilliant

Ladies of the canyon is also brilliant

And so is just about every album she made. Hejira is my favourite but folk are allowed their own taste...allegedly.


I keep flip-flopping between Hejira and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. Can't make up my mind which is better. When I get tired of that arbitration, I reach for Don Juan's Reckless Daughter -- possibly her crowning achievement (duck!)

[magiccarpetride]

But the jazz stuff is brilliant

I'm not even sure we could call it 'jazz'? Joni herself said that all the jazzbos she brought in to record with were flabbergasted by her chords and harmonic progressions. She received a good ribbing from none other than Wayne Shorter, explaining to her how she is so terribly wrong in her harmonies. "You cannot resolve a sus chord with another sus chord." Wayne told her.

And yet she did just that. She stuck to her guns (as all Scorpio women do; I know that too well, I'm in love with one).

[Gordon Steadman]

I keep flip-flopping between Hejira and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. Can't make up my mind which is better. When I get tired of that arbitration, I reach for Don Juan's Reckless Daughter -- possibly her crowning achievement (duck!)

Love it. To me, this is jazz of the highest quality. Don't listen to anyone who says jazz must have certain forms. Call it Joni's jazz and they can sod off!

[willbewill]

Heh, funny how we're the exact opposite. Mind you, I adore "Blue", so I'm not averse to her full throttle country/folk style. It's just that "Ladies of the Canyon" sounds so, so dated, with Joni's vocalizations grating on my ears.

Must be my age then :lol: The first eight are top of my list. It's just that I don't generally get on with jazz...full stop.

[magiccarpetride]

Love it. To me, this is jazz of the highest quality. Don't listen to anyone who says jazz must have certain forms. Call it Joni's jazz and they can sod off!

As it turned out, Joni's jazz posed a huge challenge to players of the highest caliber -- Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock. Mingus heard it and called her. I'm pretty sure if Miles Davis was in better shape around 1976/77, he would've called Joni too.

[magiccarpetride]

Must be my age then :lol: The first eight are top of my list. It's just that I don't generally get on with jazz...full stop.

So to you, Hejira is jazz? To me ears, Hejira is more like a second iteration of Blue. I'm not hearing much jazz in there. Must be my age.

[walpurgis]

I keep flip-flopping between Hejira and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. Can't make up my mind which is better.

I don't worry about which might be better and just enjoy them anyway.

Joni is a favourite of mine.

[willbewill]

So to you, Hejira is jazz? To me ears, Hejira is more like a second iteration of Blue. I'm not hearing much jazz in there. Must be my age.

I thought Hejira was her eighth studio album?

[magiccarpetride]

I thought Hejira was her eighth studio album?

Ah, so you like it? And the one before it ("The Hissing of Summer Lawns")? So you only dislike "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" and "Mingus"?

[willbewill]

Ah, so you like it? And the one before it ("The Hissing of Summer Lawns")? So you only dislike "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" and "Mingus"?

Correct, in fact 'Furry sings the blues' is one of my go to test tracks.

[ianlenco]

Are we forgetting Court and Spark - a sort of transition from the folky style to the jazzy stuff that followed. For me Joni is the best female artist ever :)

[walpurgis]

Correct, in fact 'Furry sings the blues' is one of my go to test tracks.

Great track.

[magiccarpetride]

Correct, in fact 'Furry sings the blues' is one of my go to test tracks.

I too like 'Furry sings the blues' a lot. My favourite is epic 'Hejira'; number two is 'A strange boy' (I even learned how to play that song on the guitar -- endless fun!)

What are you testing with 'Furry sings the blues'?

[Barry]

'The Hissing of Summer Lawns', is IMO, her weakest album and one I rarely play.

[magiccarpetride]

Are we forgetting Court and Spark - a sort of transition from the folky style to the jazzy stuff that followed. For me Joni is the best female artist ever :)

Agree with you about Joni. She's not the best female singer, but she is definitely a veritable tour de force!

Court and Spark is amazing. I'm especially amazed to learn that it's the greatest commercial success of her career. Something so playful, so fresh, so daring, so experimental, so 'out there', so inventive and innovative, managed to top the charts? Those were some incredible time!

[Yomanze]

'The Hissing of Summer Lawns', is IMO, her weakest album and one I rarely play.
Yeah thought she went a bit far with that one.

[magiccarpetride]

'The Hissing of Summer Lawns', is IMO, her weakest album and one I rarely play.

I sometimes think it's her best. Both sides of that album are extremely strong. Hejira, to my ears, has the strongest side A of all her records, but things kind of slacken a bit on the side B ("Sharon" just kind of drags on for over 8 minutes without much direction, quite a letdown). "Hissing of the summer lawns" kicks off strong, and keeps it up till the very last note on "Shadows and Light". Amazing, vital and essential piece of music!

[willbewill]

What are you testing with 'Furry sings the blues'?

Is very well produced and seems to cover the full range in quite well separated instruments so makes it quite easy to compare systems, I also know it pretty well so memory is good.