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Joni Mitchell - Painting With Words And Music
After more than a decade of de facto exile from the mainstream, Joni Mitchell has regained much of her media profile, if not her commercial impact, thanks to deserved if belated accolades from critics & music business peers. Recent Grammy Awards & a special Billboard citation epitomise the ironies of Mitchells 1980s obscurity: because she reached her highest profile with the broad success in 1974 of Court & Spark, which remains Mitchells lushest, most accessible album, the Canadian musician & painter has found herself comparatively ignored in later years simply because her work ventured into more eclectic amalgams of her already diverse influences. Yet in her forays into world music, jazz & pop collage, Mitchell has remained a prescient & influential artist. This 1998 concert special sheds welcome light on the work from that post-Spark quarter-century, its 22 songs dominated by the confessional works that have remained Mitchells strong suit. Early favourites like Big Yellow Taxi & Just Like This Train retain their charm, but its Mitchells more mature pieces such as Amelia & Sex Kills that convey the depth & acuity of her work. A superb band, including Brian Blade, Mark Isham, Larry Klein, & Greg Leisz, provides a sinewy, sympathetic framework well suited to the palette of jazz, folk, & pop colours that Mitchell daubs on her songs. Adding further intimacy to the performance is a circular stage design, a small audience & a welcome lack of big production effects; instead, Mitchell indulges her second career as a painter through a pre-show stroll around a gallery of her visual works. Mitchells frail health in the late 1990s, as well as a lifetime of cigarettes, has taken a toll on her voice, which has lost much of its upper register. Yet there is also an added richness to her lower range befitting this sharp-eyed survivors art. Old fans will also recognise the flurries of girlish laughter in between-songs patter, while savouring how Mitchells powers as a writer & player have matured as well. Greg Leisz is an American multi-instrumentalist, playing lap & pedal steel guitars, guitar, mandolin & bass. Little known by his own name, his superb playing has appeared on recordings by Bill Frisell, Dave Alvin, Tracy Chapman, the Smashing Pumpkinsthe Jayhawks, Beck, MeShell Ndegocello, Bruce Cockburn, Wilco, Shawn Colvin, Lucinda Williams, Peter Case, Joni Mitchell, Whiskeytown & Sheryl Crow, to name only a few. Leisz was influenced early on by the Byrds & Flying Burrito Brothers, especially pedal steel player Sneaky Pete Kleinow. During the 1970s he was a member of the short-lived & forgotten Funky Kings project, created by Aristas Clive Davis to mirror the Eagles success. Since then, he has enjoyed a busy career as a sideman. Two of his closest collaborators are Dave Alvin, for whom Leisz produced & played on several records & jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, with whom he tours reguarly & appeared on the records Good Dog, Happy Man, Blues Dream & The Intercontinentals.
Editors Choice: Joni Mitchell, View DVDology
Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist & composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic & film. Isham was born on September 7, 1951 in New York City. He studied classical music at an early age & played trumpet, piano & violin. The Isham family later moved to San Francisco, where Mark found work in several of the local orchestras. He also became actively involved in the Bay Area rock & roll scene of the 1960s, performing live with several of the local groups. He became a member of a group called Beefy Red. In 1966 Isham & several other members of Beefy Red joined the newly formed band The Sons of Champlin. The Sons of Champlin were unique to the San Francisco psychedelic scene in featuring a large brass section. During the 1970s he learned to program synthesizers & became active in the progressive jazz movement. In 1976 Isham & pianist Art Lande formed a quartet called Rubisa Patrol. Rubisa Patrol & Desert Marauders. It was in this group that Isham surfaced as a solo trumpeter with a strong Miles Davis influence.
Editors Choice: Joni Mitchell, View DVDology
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