Monday, April 30, 2012

Monday music: a Joni Mitchell extravaganz-o, and a surprise

Joni Mitchell has had a very varied career, from the sixties on, through many changes (folk/rock/??/jazz).

Here are just a few flavors.

Among the earliest I could find is "Me and My Uncle," from 1965 (mentions Texas!):


A few years later, one of her earlier hits in her sweet young voice: "Chelsea Morning"


Then a favorite of mine, in a live performance, "Free Man in Paris":


Now a more mature Joni delivers a very jazzy, playful tune that showcases her range, in "The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines":


Unfortunately there's no video to this, but Joni's voice lends itself nicely to a lovely version of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"


Finally: not a big Elton John fan, but here at a Joni Mitchell tribute he turns in a good, somewhat more melancholy cover of "Free Man in Paris":

 

3 comments:

candy said...

I am a longtime fan of Joni Mitchell. My favorite album was Blue. She is also a wonderful artist. A very talented lady. She did what she wanted to do musically whether what she did fared well on the charts or not. Unfortunately, I heard that her smoking habit has done a bit of harm to her voice range.

Mark said...

...and Jaco on bass.

Pastor Howard Brown said...

Her smoking was cited as being largely responsible for the change that took place in her voice over the years. Almost like she paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
Someone had to say it.