Mingus

Joni Mitchell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002GWV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,014 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Happy Birthday

2. God Must Be A Boogie Man

3. Funeral

4. A Chair In The Sky

5. The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey

6. I's A Muggin'

7. Sweet Sucker Dance

8. Coin In The Pocket

9. The Dry Cleaners From Des Moines

10. Lucky

11. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

Editorial Reviews

CD

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 98 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So good its criminal July 15, 2001

By Damien Bjorn Ruud

Format:Audio CD

Female artists (Laura Nyro, Joni, Rickie Lee) are always getting the short end of the stick. When this album was released it was generally deemed a failure and it got no airplay and fell off the charts. Listening to it 22 years later I can't believe how underrated it has become. If you thought Joni was just a flower-powered folk singer then you were wrong. This is some of the most spacey, haunting, and eccentric music out there. Oh, the instruments may seem familiar but the way they are used is just plain out there. Jaco Pastorius can make his bass sound like a trumpet, sax, piano, Fender Rhodes, synth and more. Joni's guitar playing had never been or never was again this powerful or primal. Highlights: everything. God Must Be a Boogie Man a duet between Joni's guitar and Jaco's bass combines her haunting vocals backed by a chorus of what sounds like escapees from a mental institution. The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey: with Joni's near perfect phrasing and a devil-may-care guitar strum. The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines: an uptempo jazz-tune which, in a just world, would have been a great single. Oh and one more thing, Joni's voice would never again be this perfect. She had trained her voice and it has never sounded better. It didn't have that high screechy, nails-on-the-chalkboard sound of her early days, nor the Tom Waits-gravel quality it has today. This is an essential part of Joni's oeuvre. Get it now.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Earned my musical stripes with Mingus October 31, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

This album, along with Joni's masterpieces The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira, taught me to LISTEN to music, to appreciate the subtleties and complexities. Joni has said that this album cost her everything, meaning that it soured pop radio programmers on her work. Well, that's the down-side. The up-side is, well, take a listen: Dry Cleaner from Des Moines cooks! The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey is a haunting synthesis of under-your-skin vocals, powerful acoustic guitar and -- wolves! Sweet Sucker Dance is charming, and Goodbye Pork Pie Hat couldn't be more memorable and does justice to the classic jazz composition. This album taught me to love jazz and introduced me to contemporary and old-time jazz legends. I'm glad I have more sense than radio programmers.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Adventurous and different. Joni can play jazz, no doubt. August 16, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

An excellent album, each track is thoughtful and evocative. I was immediately impressed by the qulaity of musicianship on this album, the funny thing is, Joni Mitchell always had excellent musicians on all of her albums.

I am big jazz fan, so names like Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius get my attention. The song writing is different, Joni was very daring to write lyrics to Mingus music, a music never ordinary or simplistic!

Jaco's contributions are hard to ignore, his bass should actually be counted as a second lead vocal! His playing is spectacular, as always, and his horn part on "The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines" is fantastic. He really brings a groove to the recordings, I actually enjoy listening to him more as a sideman than I do as a soloist. He maintains a discipline when he records with Joni Mitchell which makes his playing more outstanding. His extra voice can not be ignored on this record, it is clear that his presence was insightful.

I must echo other reviewers by saying, don't give up on the first listening. This is complicated and serious music but it is worth a good listen. Joni is exploring a new territory, so her style is different and barely echoes her "Court and Spark" days. I do think that if you want to lead into Mingus the best way to do so would be through Court and Spark and then The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Both albums illustrate a transition from the folky and introspective Mitchell to the hard playing artist interested in experimentation rather relating to the listener.

I definetly recommend this album and I think that if you go in with an open and adventurous mind, you will not be disappointed.