Sunday, March 22, 2009

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Joni Mitchell

Artist:Joni Mitchell
Song:Furry Sings The Blues
Album:Hejira




As Joni Mitchell's career progressed into the 70s, she turned away from her folk roots and more towards a jazz style. This resulted in her 1974 album Court & Spark being her most popular album to date and spawning the hits Raised On Robbery & Help Me. The jazz flavour was added by sax player Tom Scott along with guest shots from Joe Sample & Wilton Felder of The Crusaders. She took Scott on tour with her and recorded the live album Miles Of Aisles. Jazz sax legend Wayne Shorter joined during the tour. She continued this experimentation on the 1975 album The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. That album also reached the top ten. Joni wrote most of the songs on her 1976 album Hejira while driving from Maine to California. Furry Sings The Blues was inspired by her encounter with legendary bluesman Furry Lewis in New Orleans. Neil Young plays harmonica on the song which also features guitarist Larry Carlton and bassist Max Bennett. Weather Report bassist Jaco Pastorius worked on several other songs. Hejira didn't sell as well as her previous albums but today it's now considered a classic. Joni would continue this direction and even worked with Charles Mingus on her 1979 album Mingus. Of course Joni Mitchell is now a legend of popular music. She announced her retirement from music in 2002 but changed her mind and released the CD Shine in Sept. 2007 on the Starbucks owned Hear Music label. Here's Joni Mitchell performing Furry Sings The Blues with guitarist Pat Metheny and drummer Don Alias from the Shadows And Light DVD.

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