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Joni Mitchell: Mingus

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Elektra/Asylum Records
Released: 1979
Time:
 37:20
Category: Jazz
Producer(s): Joni Mitchell
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.jonimitchell.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2002.10.10
Price in €: 10,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Happy Birthday 1975 [Rap] (J.Mitchell) - 0:57
[2] God Must Be a Boogie Man (J.Mitchell) - 4:33
[3] Funeral [Rap] (J.Mitchell) - 1:07
[4] A Chair in the Sky (J.Mitchell/Ch.Mingus) - 6:40
[5] The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey (J.Mitchell) - 6:33
[6] I's a Muggin' [Rap] (J.Mitchell) - 0:07
[7] Sweet Sucker Dance (J.Mitchell/Ch.Mingus) - 8:06
[8] Coin in the Pocket [Rap] (J.Mitchell) - 0:11
[9] The Dry Cleaner from des Moines (J.Mitchell/Ch.Mingus) - 3:22
[10] Lucky (Rap) (J.Mitchell) - 0:03
[11] Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (J.Mitchell/Ch.Mingus) - 5:41

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


JONI MITCHELL - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals, Mixing, Paintings

HERBIE HANCOCK - Keyboards, Electric Piano
CHARLES MINGUS - Vocals
JACO PASTORIUS - Bass, Arranger, Horn, Horn Arrangements
WAYNE SHORTER - Soprano Saxophone
PETER ERSKINE - Drums
EMIL RICHARDS - Percussion
DON ALIAS - Conductor, Conga

BERNIE GRUNDMAN - Mastering
STEVE KATZ - Mixing
HENRY LEWY - Engineer, Mixing
GLEN CHRISTENSEN - Art Direction

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1978 CD Asylum 2-505
1979 LP Asylum 505
1979 CS Asylum 5C5-505



In the months prior to the passing of legendary jazz bassist Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell had been personally summoned by the bop pioneer to collaborate on a musical version of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets. The project would entail Mitchell to condense the text for Mingus to score instrumentally. He planned on utilizing a full orchestra, as well as the more traditional guitar and bass. They would accompany Mitchell's vocals and the narration of selected portions of the text. After a few weeks of consideration, Mitchell's reaction was that "[she]'d rather condense the bible." Mingus then bestowed Mitchell with six melodies — "Joni I" through "Joni VI" — penned specifically for her. Mitchell spent a few weeks with Mingus — who was totally immobilized from amyotropic lateral sclerosis (aka, Lou Gehrig's Disease) — during the spring of 1978. Their partnership advanced the half-dozen tunes. More importantly, it shook Mitchell from a three-month long writer's block/drought — yielding two of her best late-'70s compositions: "God Must Be a Boogie Man" and the revisitation and completion of a track she'd been wood-shedding, now titled "The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey." Incidentally, the former piece was inspired by the opening chapters of Mingus' autobiography, Beneath the Underdog. Initial recordings during Mitchell's stay with Mingus in New York City produced several interesting experimental sessions with the likes of Stanley Clarke (bass), Jan Hammer (keyboards), John McLaughlin (guitar), Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax), and Tony Williams (drums). A few of these recordings — while rumored to have been lost, destroyed, or made otherwise unavailable — were leaked into the trading community in the late '90s. Arguably, Mitchell could not have chosen any finer musicians than the sextet she ultimately incorporated into this work. The luminaries include Herbie Hancock (electric piano), Wayne Shorter (soprano sax), Jaco Pastorious (bass/horn arrangements), Peter Erskine (drums), Don Alias (congas), and Emil Richards (percussion). Sprinkled amongst these soulfully jazzy pieces are five "raps," or aural snapshots of the time Mitchell and Mingus spent together. Sadly, Charles Mingus passed before he was able to listen to this timeless and ageless paean to his remarkable contributions to bop and free jazz.

Lindsay Planer - All Music Guide
© 1992 - 2002 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.
 

 L y r i c s


GOD MUST BE A BOOGIE MAN

He is three
One's in the middle unmoved
Waiting
To show what he sees
To the other two
To the one attacking--so afraid
And the one that keeps trying to love and trust
And getting himself betrayed
In the plan--oh
The divine plan
God must be a boogie man!

One's so sweet
So overly loving and gentle
He lets people in
To his innermost sacred temple
Blind faith to care
Blind rage to kill
Why'd he let them talk him down
To cheap work and cheap thrills
In the plan--oh
The insulting plan
God must be a boogie man!

Which would it be
Mingus one or two or three
Which one do you think he'd want the world to see
Well, world opinion's not a lot of help
When a man's only trying to find out
How to feel about himself!
In the plan-oh
The cock-eyed plan
God must be a boogie man!


A CHAIR IN THE SKY

The rain slammed hard as bars
It caught me--by surprise
Mutts of the planet
And shook me down for alibis
I'm waiting
For the keeper to release me
Debating this sentence
Biding my time
In memories
Of old friends of mine ...
In daydreams of Birdland
I see my soul on fire
Burning up the bandstand
Next time
I'll be bigger!
I'll be better than ever!
I'll be happily attached
To my cold hard cash!
But now Manhattan holds me
To a chair in the sky
With the bird in my ears
And boats in my eyes
Going by

There are things I wish I'd done
Some friends I'm gonna miss
Beautiful lovers
I never got the chance to kiss...
Daydreamin' drugs the pain of living
Processions of missing
Lovers and friends
Fade in and they fade out again
In these daydreams of rebirth
I see myself in style
Raking in what I'm worth
Next time
I'll be bigger!
I'll be better than ever!
I'll be resurrected royal!
I'll be rich as standard oil!
But now--Manhattan holds me
To a chair in the sky
With the bird in my ears
And boats in my eyes
Going by


THE WOLF THAT LIVES IN LINDSEY

Of the darkness in men's minds
What can you say
That wasn't marked by history
Or the T.V. news today
He gets away with murder
The blizzards come and go
The stab and glare and buckshot
Of the heavy heavy snow
It comes and goes
It comes and goes

His grandpa loved an empire
His sister loved a thief
And lindsey loved the ways of darkness
Beyond belief
Girls in chilly blouses
The blizzards come and go
The stab and glare and buckshot
Of the heavy heavy snow
It comes and goes
It comes and goes

The cops don't seem to care
For derelicts or ladies of the night
They're weeds for yanking out of sight
If you're smart or rich or lucky
Maybe you'll beat the laws of man
But the inner laws of spirit
And the outer laws of nature
No man can
No--no man can

There lives a wolf in Lindsey
That raids and runs
Through the hills of Hollywood
And the downtown slums
He gets away with murder
The blizzards come and go
The stab and glare and buckshot
Of the heavy heavy snow
It comes and goes
It comes and goes


SWEET SUCKER DANCE

I almost closed the door
Cancelled on everything we opened up for
Tonight the shadows had their say
Their sad notions of the way
Things really are
Damn these blues!
They'd turn my heart against you
Since I was fool enough
To find romance
I'm trying to convince myself
This is just a dance!

We move in measures
Through loves' changing faces
Needy and nonchalant
Greedy and gracious
Through petty dismissals
And grand embraces
Like it was only a dance!

We are survivors
Some get broken
Some get mended
Some can't surrender
They're too well defended
Some get lucky
Some are blessed
And some pretend
This is only a dance!

We're dancing fools
You and me
Tonight it's a dance of insecurity
It's my solo
While you're away
Shadows have the saddest thing to say

Love
We can't live without it
Why do we go out and get it
Just to turn around and doubt it
LIke we're scared to care
It's hard to talk about it
Aw--it's only a dance
Tonight the shadows had their say
There's a sucker born a day
I heard them say
Born to lose
Am I a sucker to love you?

You're such a sweet love
You're a proud man
You're a treasure
Time passes gracefully
Living can be such a pleasure
You make it easy to take it in measures
Like it was only a dance!

We're dancing fools
You and me
Tonight it's a dance of insecurity
It's my solo
Blue way
And shadows have the saddest things to say

We are survivors
Some get broken
Some get mended
Some can't surrender
They're too well defended
Some get lucky
Some are blessed
And some pretend
It's only a dance!


THE DRY CLEANER FROM DES MOINES

I'm down to a roll of dimes
I'm stalking the slot that's hot
I keep hearing bells all around me
Jingling in the lucky jackpots
They keep you tantalized
They keep you reaching for your wallet
Here in fools' paradise!

I talked to a cat from Des Moines
He said he ran a cleaning plant
That cat was clanking with coin
Well, he must have had a genie in a lamp
'Cause every time--I dropped a dime--I blew it
He kept ringing bells
Nothing to it!

He got three oranges
Three lemons
Three cherries
Three plums
I'm losing my taste for fruit
Watching the dry cleaner do it
Like Midas in a polyester suit
It's all luck!
It's just luck!
You get a little lucky and you make a little money!

I followed him down the strip
He picked out a booth at Circus Circus
Where the cowgirls fill the room
With their big balloons
The Cleaner was pitching with purpose!
He had Dinos and Pooh Bears
And lions--pink and blue there
He couldn't lose there!

Des Moines was stacking the chips
Raking off the tables
Ringing the bandit's bells
This is a story that's a drag to tell
(In some ways)
Since I lost every dime
I laid on the line
But the cleaner from Des Moines
Could put a coin
In the door of a John
And get twenty for one
It's just luck!


GOODBYE PORK PIE HAT

When Charlie speaks of Lester
You know someone great has gone
The sweetest swinging music man
Had a Porkie Pig hat on
A bright star
In a dark age
When the bandstands had a thousand ways
Of refusing a black man admission
Black musician
In those days they put him in an
Underdog position
Cellars and chittlins'

When Lester took him a wife
Arm and arm went black and white
And some saw red
And drove them from their hotel bed
Love is never easy
It's short of the hope we have for happiness
Bright and sweet
Love is never easy street!
Now we are black and white
Embracing out in the lunatic New York night
It's very unlikely we'll be driven out of town
Or be hung in a tree
That's unlikely!

Tonight these crowds
Are happy and loud
Children are up dancing in the streets
In the sticky middle of the night
Summer serenade
Of taxi horns and fun arcades
Where right or wrong
Under neon
Every feeling goes on!
For you and me
The sidewalk is a history book
And a circus
Dangerous clowns
Balancing dreadful and wonderful perceptions
They have been handed
Day by day
Generations on down

We came up from the subway
On the music midnight makes
To Charlie's bass and Lester's saxophone
In taxi horns and brakes
Now Charlie's down in Mexico
With the healers
So the sidewalk leads us with music
To two little dancers
Dancing outside a black bar
There's a sign up on the awning
It says "Pork Pie Hat Bar"
And there's black babies dancing...
Tonight!

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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