River The Joni Letters - Herbie Hancock (2007)

Joni Mitchell got famous as a folk singer, but that hardly captures the complexity of what she did. Her songs were always incredibly adventurous and never very traditional. Her career has interwoven with the world of jazz in multiple ways. She often featured jazz artists on her records (O_o), probably because her songs were so demanding musically. When Charles Mingus was immobile near the end of his life and looking to collaborate with a still-working musician, he reached out to Mitchell rather than one of the myriad jazz artists he’d worked with.

Here we get Mitchell interpretations from jazz great Hancock, who himself is used to edgewalking between jazz, funk, and pop.

Vocal features include Mitchell herself as well as Norah Jones, Tina Turner, and Leonard Cohen. A personal favorite of mine, guitarist Lionel Loueke, features in the band.

Tracks I liked

Edith And the Kingpin - not a song I knew very well, but Tina Turner takes it to another level

River - An American standard if ever there was one.

Nefertiti - A Wayne Shorter composition. Shorter joins frequent collaborator Hancock to revisit the tune they both played in the Miles Davis Quintet. It’s not super clear what it’s doing here, except maybe to highlight how close Mitchell’s 60s records were to some of the most cerebral jazz of the era.