MINGUS
Mingus is the tenth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, and a collaboration with jazz musician Charles Mingus. Recorded in the months before his death, it would be Mingus’s final musical project; the album is wholly dedicated to him. The album is quite experimental, featuring minimalist jazz, overplucked, buzzing acoustic guitars, and even wolves howling through “The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey”. As with the release preceding, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, Mitchell hired personnel from jazz fusion group Weather Report, notably bassist Jaco Pastorius to play on the sessions. Mingus would also mark the first reunion of saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist Herbie Hancock in the studio since recording together on Shorter’s seminal Native Dancer album, featuring Milton Nascimento, released in September 1974. (More from Wikipedia)
In the early years, most women only sang; those who also played a musical instrument tended to be folksingers, like Joan Baez and Judy Collins. Later on, both Baez and Collins moved more toward rock, and they have each recorded numerous amazing albums. Joni Mitchell, who wrote Judy Collins’ early hit song “Both Sides Now”, stretched herself even further; one remarkable album that I own is her 1979 album, Mingus that was recorded with jazz legend Charles Mingus shortly before his death.
(October 2013)
