Post by petrolino on Jun 27, 2020 23:07:36 GMT
Joan's Arc
Introducing Joni Mitchell in 1965
Joni Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Mitchell on November 7, 1943 in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada, a barrack town located about 36 miles north of Cardston (where actress and writer Fay Wray was born). Her mother, schoolteacher Myrtle Marguerite (née McKee), was of Scots and Irish ancestry. Her father, William Andrew Anderson, was a Royal Canadian Air Force flight lieutenant and flight instructor of Norwegian ancestry.
She spent time at different Canadian military bases during the early part of her childhood. When she was starting primary school, the family settled in Saskatchewan. When she was ready to start her secondary education, the family made their home in Saskatoon, the largest city in Saskatchewan.
"She was born Roberta Joan Anderson in 1943. Like many pop musicians, she suffered a childhood of utter tedium, a bright star against the faint backdrop of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. On the airwaves, she heard “Mantovani, country and western, a lot of radio journalism,” and, once a day for an hour, “The Hit Parade.” A soulful girl, she watched the trains approach and depart, or pored over the Sears catalogue. (She called it “the book of dreams.”) When Mitchell was eight, she contracted polio and was quarantined, for several months, in a hospital close to home. Her mother came to see her once, on Christmas; her father never did. Polio patients were told to keep perfectly still — it was believed that any movement might cause the disease to spread — so she spent the time alone and on her back. When she was released, her left hand was damaged (it would make conventional guitar playing difficult for her, and led her to experiment with her own, idiosyncratic tunings) and she had lost the speed in her legs. But, she said, she “came back a dancer.”
It was painting that took her away from Saskatoon. It is practically a default for aspiring musicians to attend art schools—“holding pens for dropouts and rejects,” as Yaffe puts it — and Mitchell soon enrolled in the Alberta College of Art and Design, in Calgary, paying the bills by working as a model at a department store. She taught herself to play the guitar by listening to a Pete Seeger instructional record, and played the ukulele in coffeehouses around the city. But performing was a “hobby” — she reserved her ambition for the canvas."
It was painting that took her away from Saskatoon. It is practically a default for aspiring musicians to attend art schools—“holding pens for dropouts and rejects,” as Yaffe puts it — and Mitchell soon enrolled in the Alberta College of Art and Design, in Calgary, paying the bills by working as a model at a department store. She taught herself to play the guitar by listening to a Pete Seeger instructional record, and played the ukulele in coffeehouses around the city. But performing was a “hobby” — she reserved her ambition for the canvas."
- Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker
Leonard Cohen & Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell performing in 1969 / Joni Mitchell performing in 1970
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Mitchell learnt folk music around the campfire and enjoyed singing outdoors. She studied the ukelele and progressed to guitar and piano. She was also a keen painter and a promising poet.
She contracted polio at the age of eight and took up smoking the following year. Her condition left her with a weak left hand so she experimented with alternative tunings to nullify this potential physical weakness. In doing so, she developed a gift for crafting unusual harmonies and complex song structures. This was to serve her particularly well when she began incorporating jazz techniques into her playing style.
"I think you're the greatest lyricist that has ever lived."
- Morrissey compliments Joni Mitchell while interviewing her in 1997, Rolling Stone
David Crosby, Graham Nash & Joni Mitchell
'Night In The City' - Joni Mitchell
Mitchell performed her first concerts in Canada where a new generation of songwriters was making waves on both sides of the Canadian-American border. Her contemporary Buffy Sainte-Marie (born February 20, 1941, Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada) was a local artist active in Saskatchewan. Another acquaintance was Winnipeg-based folk singer Neil Young (born November 12, 1945, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) who joined the Mynah Birds back home in Toronto. Young's idol in Winnipeg was local star Randy Bachman (born September 27, 1943, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) of the Guess Who. Tommy Chong (born May 24, 1938, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) was a member of Little Daddy & the Bachelors in British Columbia in the early 1960s. Gordon Lightfoot (born November 17, 1938, Orillia, Ontario, Canada) travelled and performed successfully in Europe at this time. Poet and novelist Leonard Cohen (born September 21, 1934, Westmount, Quebec, Canada) was an established figure in New York City, New York and this is where Mitchell headed.
In 1965, Mitchell moved to New York where she became instrumental in the greater popularisation of the Greenwich Village folk scene. This same year she gave birth to her daughter Kelly Dale Anderson who she put up for adoption (they've since been reuinted), and she married fellow folksinger Chuck Mitchell in Rochester, Michigan. It was a heavy year for the young singer-songwriter who spent several more years playing small clubs on the east coast of America.
"Prince's touchstones quickly became apparent as he began tangling, however reluctantly or high-handedly, with the press. In his Rolling Stone interview from 1985, Prince called Joni Mitchell's The Hissing of Summer Lawns, from 1975, "The last album I loved all the way through." He also put on Stevie Wonder's Journey Through the Secret World of Plants and Miles Davis's brand new You're Under Arrest. When Rolling Stone's Neal Karlen asked how Prince felt about his new Around the World in a Day being labeled "psychedelic," he responded, "I don't mind that, because that was the only period in recent history that delivered songs and colors. Led Zeppelin, for example, would make you feel differently on each song."
- Michaelangelo Matos, Minnesota Public Radio
Joni Mitchell & Graham Nash
'Free Man In Paris' - Joni Mitchell
Around 1968, Mitchell moved to Los Angeles, California and began playing regular gigs on the west coast of America. She became one of the instigators of the Laurel Canyon sound and developed strong working relationships with some of the movement's key players. Her collaborators on her early records included Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter (Ultimate Spinnach), Tommy Chong (Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers), David Crosby (The Byrds), Glenn Frey (The Eagles), Sneaky Pete Kleinow (The Flying Burrito Brothers), Russ Kunkel (Things To Come), Graham Nash (The Hollies), J.D. Souther, Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield) and Neil Young (Buffalo Springfield).
During this period, Mitchell secured the services of record producer Paul Rothchild who was elemental to the development of recorded folk music and worked as a house producer at Elektra Records where his clients included Tim Buckley, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Clear Light, the Doors, Love and Rhinocerous. Rothchild produced original demos for a new supergroup known as Crosby, Stills, & Sebastian, before John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful) departed, and Graham Nash and (later) Neil Young were recruited. Just as important to Mitchell was some of the other artists Rothchild had worked with, including folk musicians Fred Neil, Tom Paxton and Tom Rush.
"I used to be a breathy little soprano. Then one day I found that I could sing low. At first I thought I had lost my voice forever. I could sing either a breathy high part or a raspy low part. Then the two came together by themselves. It was uncomfortable for a while, but I worked on it, and now I've got this voice."
- Joni Mitchell speaking in May 1969, Rolling Stone
Bob Dylan & Joni Mitchell
'In France They Kiss On Main Street' - Joni Mitchell
Mitchell worked regularly in the 1970s with members of the Jazz Crusaders and L.A. Express. Her albums became more experimental, leading to fateful collaborations with Michel Colombier, Stanley Clarke, Eddie Gomez, Jan Hammer, John McLaughlin, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Mingus, Jaco Pastorius, Dannie Richmond, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and Phil Woods, which is testament to Mitchell's musical abilities. In the 1980s, Mitchell extended her musical company further by featuring guest vocalists plucked from all areas of popular music.
"Oh yes, I had the respect of my musicians. In jazz circles, the girl singer was tolerated and called “the chirp.” For the most part, these women were accused of having bad timing and not being able to spontaneously compose. I heard sessions with Billie Holiday where she would have no power in the room. It’s a man’s world. Men wrote most of the songs for women and they were mostly tales of seduction. I wrote my own songs. That ended that."
- Joni Mitchell, Maclean's
Tim Hardin, Stephen Stills & Joni Mitchell
'The Tenth World' - Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell is one of Canada's greatest artists. She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame in 1981, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1997, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 and was made a Companion of the Order Of Canada in 2004. Sadly, her artistic achievements are now at risk of being erased as the album jacket for her album 'Don Juan's Reckless Daughter' (1977) features a photomontage that includes an image of Mitchell's alter-ego, passionate black hipster Art Nouveau.
"When I met Johnny Rotten, I liked him immediately. He was younger than I was, but he was a lot like I was in high school: fashion conscious . . . kind of pale and pimply and avoiding the sun. But I’m a punk. I’ve never really been in the mainstream. Not that being a punk is a good thing, necessarily [laughs]."
- Joni Mitchell, Rolling Stone
Art Nouveau
Joni Mitchell performing in 1974 / Joni Mitchell performing in 1979
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