Advantages: superb singer songwriter Disadvantages: takes a little patience to listen too
This album from 1991 saw JoniMitchell and her ex-husband Larry Klein in the producer’s chair, for her first release in the 90’s.
The album opens with the atmospheric title track written in 1988 “Night ride home”.
The impression of the night is conveyed to the listener by the use of a sound sample, which is that of chirping cicadas, the sound effect runs for the whole length of the song. This sound is what holds all the instruments used on the track along with the signature sound of Joni’s acoustic guitar playing style. At the start of the track along with the opening lines “Once in a while, in a blue moon, there comes a night like this, like some surrealist, invented this, 4th of July, night ride home” as the artist finishes this line the sublime bass playing of Larry Klein begins adding ...
Advantages: Fantastic display of Jazz composition Disadvantages: Jazz isn't for everyone
Charles Mingus - In a Soulful Mood.
Charles Mingus, also known as "The angry man of Jazz", is a fantastic jazz bassist and composer. He was born in 1922 in Arizona and picked up the Double Bass in high school. He had previously learnt to play the cello and trombone so many of his cello skills were converted to double bass. In his early years he was composing incredibly advanced jazz pieces, some of which to be recorded later on.
Over his career Mingus recorded in excess of 70 records with various musicians passing through his often unconventional bands. He tended to focus on the personality, as well as the ability, of a musician to see how he would fit into the band. He ran a jazz workshop that included around 8 members and shaped musicians into unconventional ways that explored their improvisational talents. Pieces ...
. The gift that JoniMitchell as is that of making you feel that the songs are for you, that she is singing them for you. It is a very personal experience.
JoniMitchell went on to make other great record; 'Court and Spark' (1974), the more jazz influenced 'The Hissing on Summer Lawns (1975), Hejira (1976) and Mingus (1979) as well as more recently the more pop orientated 'Dog Eat Dog' (1985) and 'Taming The Tiger' (1998).
But 'Blue' remains probably her most perfect record.
'Blue' was rated No.28 in NME's all time best albums ever and No. 9 in best albums of the 70's.
It has also been included in Q magazine's Best Chill-Out Albums of All Time and Vibe magazine's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century
If you don't know JoniMitchell 'Blue' is a good place to start. ...
Product Information for "Mingus - Joni Mitchell" »
Product details
Title
Mingus
Performer
Joni Mitchell
Genre
Rock & Pop
Sub Genre
Tribute Albums
Release Date
1988
Recomended Retail Price
10.99 GBP
Original Release Year
1979
Label / Distributor
Asylum / Cinram Logistics
Producer
Joni Mitchell
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
75596055727
Catalogue Number
7559605572
SPAR code
AAD
Additional notes
Album Notes
Personnel: Joni Mitchell (guitar, vocals); Wayne Shorter (soprano saxophone); Herbie Hancock (electric piano); Jaco Pastorius (bass, horn arrangement); Peter Erskine (drums); Don Alias (congas); Emil Richards (percussion). Engineers: Henry Lewy, Steve Katz, Jerry Solomon. Recorded at A&M Studios, Hollywood, California and Electric Lady Studios, New York, New York. All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology. Joni Mitchell's most controversial album is the infamous MINGUS. A tribute to the legendary jazz bassist of the same name, this is an intriguing meeting of Joni's sultry, burnished vocals and some of the best modern jazz musicians, at the intersection of pop and jazz. Critics in both the rock and jazz worlds unjustly dismissed the record as an attempt by Mitchell to exploit Mingus or to needlessly elevate pop to a more sophisticated level. Mitchell's voice is well suited to the moody jazz melody of Mingus' "A Chair In The Sky." The melodic comments of the masterful Jaco Pastorius' fretless bass weave their way seductively through Joni's melancholy interpretation of "Sweet Sucker Dance." The high point of the album, however, is the funky "The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines" which benefits from Pastorius' gurgling bass groove and dynamic horn arrangement. The album finale is the beautiful ballad "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," on which Mitchell delivers one of the most heartfelt and stunning vocal performances of her career. To complete the picture, snippets of conversations with Mingus are inserted between tracks to draw the album into a cohesive whole.
Titles on disc 1
1.
Happy Birthday
2.
God Must Be A Boogie Man
3.
Funeral
4.
Chair In The Sky
5.
Wolf That Lives In Lindsey
6.
Is A Muggin'
7.
Dry Cleaner From Des Moines
8.
Lucky
9.
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
10.
Sweet Sucker Dance
11.
Coin In The Pocket
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
02/03/2003
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