River: The Joni Letters

Herbie Hancock | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: September 25, 2007
• Release Date: September 25, 2007
• Label: Verve
• Copyright: (C) 2007 The Verve Music Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
• Genres: Jazz/Avant Garde & Free Jazz
• ASIN: B000XO2R1S
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A celebration of subtlety., February 16, 2008

By 

John W. Dunner "Jay Dunner" (Atco, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: River: The Joni Letters (Audio CD)

The sophistication of Mitchell's song constructions provides a plethora of interpretive possibilities. Hancock heads for the Ritz-Carlton. With guest vocalists Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corinne Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza, and Joni herself, Hancock dances gracefully up and down the twisting staircases of Mitchell's melodies, crossing the ballroom again and again for yet another chic-to-chic peek at her poetry. It's all gleaming wood and polished elegance, even as Wayne Shorter's sax prods Hancock on to more adventurous turns of phrase. The disc closes with Leonard Cohen's guttural narration of Mitchell's "The Jungle Line," a fittingly odd close to an album idolizing an iconoclast. A celebration of subtlety.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deep and engrossing, March 21, 2008

By 

Anthony Cooper (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: River: The Joni Letters (Audio CD)

Herbie Hancock's Joni Mitchell tribute is very good, and it's nice Herbie received the extra recognition of the Grammy. I don't think it's the best jazz CD of 2007, but I'm not a voter anyway. The key element in Herbie's band is Wayne Shorter. He plays a big role, and his sensibilities shape the sounds of each song. Dave Holland's bass is excellent, and the drums and guitar don't stand out much. The vocal songs are sung by a variety of fine singers. None of them jazz the song up too much. Tina Turner may not be recognized as a jazz singer, but she sounds very good. My favorite has to be Corinne Rae Bailey, simply for the sound of her voice. Even though there's no scatting, it's certainly a jazz CD, and Herbie and Wayne make sure of that. They play unobvious notes throughout, and make them go down easy enough. The instrumentals are laid back, but it's deep. "Nefertiti" is an instrumental highlight. The last song with Leonard Cohen's narration is just kind of strange.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars mellow but masterful & meaningful..., June 3, 2008

By 

Yanksta "ZepFan" (Landofthemidnightsun) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River: The Joni Letters (Audio CD)

SHORT REVIEW: Very enjoyable cd, with great production & instrumentation by Herbie Hancock. great pop songs by Joni Mitchell. great performances by all performers involved.

LONG REVIEW: A seemless cd, made up of a variety of jazz musical sounds by Herbie, together with the jazzy introspective folk-pop of Joni Mitchell.

Sure its on the mellow side but Joni is the showcase and her lyrics, here performed by Joni and others, goes perfectly with the savy down tempo playing of the instrumentalists. But that is not meant to be a negative comment. The instrumental passages and moments are very good. This is jazz, a bit mellow, but not in a bad way. Its loose and improvisational jazz(heck look who is playing it!!!), with a wee bit of sly Hancock funk, lightly sprinkled throughout. Subtle yet poignant. Sweet yet salty.

...if you have any hesitation, see if you can listen to the first 2 songs all the way through. Beautiful performances all the way around, but these songs are not meant to be 30sec clips. Sweet Bird & Tea Leaf Prophecy are also very nice. I was not disappointed with anything really. Even the non-Joni songs fit seemlessly into the overall vibe of the cd. I have even enjoyed the cd playing it loud while driiving, just to hear every musical nuianse. A real audio treat, and to quote a review I saw for another work, "every sound is deliberate and perfect."

Reminds me of Miles Davis cool-jazz ensembles of the late 50s and up thru the 60s up, until he he formed his Bitches Brew group (which had the harder sound that was inspired by late 60s hard rock.). its Miles influenced cool-jazz, filtered thru 70s era Joni Mitchell, with the jazz being a bit more experimental & low key in some sections.

...to me, as jazzy and loose as this cd is, it still has a good amount of style, rhythm & melody throughout. Except Herbie & Co. play with it, much the way Joni herself did on many of her original songs & albums.

If you are only familiar with Joni's singles you may nt be aware of the rest of the songs she had on her original albums. some tended to have alot of instrumental experimentation venturing into jazz turf.

loved this cd throughout & recommended for jazz and joni fans looking for different versions of her songs.

Thanks HH & JM.