Name: River: The Joni Letters
Brand: Verve
SKU: 179584159
Price: 31.1 SGD
Availability: InStock

River: The Joni Letters

Rating

Album: River: The Joni Letters
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Court and Spark
2)	Edith and the Kingpin
3)	Both Sides Now
4)	River - (featuring Corinne Bailey Rae)
5)	Sweet Bird
6)	Tea Leaf Prophecy, The (Lay Down Your Arms)
7)	Solitude
8)	Amelia
9)	Nefertiti
10)	Jungle Line, The
1)	Case of You, A
2)	All I Want
3)	Harlem in Havana
4)	I Had a King

Performer Notes

Personnel: Herbie Hancock (piano); Wayne Shorter (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Vinnie Colaiuta (drums).
Audio Mixer: Helik Hadar.
Recording information: 600ft, Yorkshire, England; Avatar Studios, New York City; NJP Tonstudio, Zurich, Switzerland; Ocean Way Recording,Hollywood, CA; Paramount Recording Studios, CA.
Photographer: Kwaku Alston.
Arrangers: Herbie Hancock; Larry Klein.
Any doubts about the incongruity of jazz icon Herbie Hancock covering singer-songwriter extraordinare Joni Mitchell will be obliterated on the first journey through RIVER: THE JONI LETTERS. For starters, the premise is not especially incongruous. Hancock has had a long, adventurous career in which he's traversed genres and masterfully blended styles, while Mitchell has always been deeply influenced by jazz as both a composer and a singer. RIVER features many of Mitchell's finest songs, stunning in their own right and reinterpreted beautifully by Hancock, plus a stellar assortment of musicians and guest vocalists.
Mitchell's pop and folk tendencies have been assimilated into the arrangements; the album plays like a vocal jazz outing. Hancock is joined by fellow Miles Davis alums Wayne Shorter and Dave Holland, among others, and the guest vocalists include Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corinne Bailey Rae, Leonard Cohen, and--on one track--Mitchell herself. Sophisticated, soulful, and gorgeous, RIVER is a must for fans of Mitchell, classic jazz, adult contemporary artists like Norah Jones--and, well, just about everyone.

Professional Reviews

JazzTimes (p.88) - "This is Hancock's finest album since GERSHWIN'S WORLD....RIVER inspires complex reflections on the wonders of Joni, the renewable and re-workable nature of great art..."

No Depression (p.94) - "RIVER: THE JONI LETTERS puts real jazz into Mitchell's bohemian oeuvre..."