The box sets will be available this fall
Joni Mitchell introduces Joni’s Jazz, a passion project years in the making. This career-spanning collection features recordings chosen by Mitchell that reflect jazz’s profound influence on her music. The 4 CD and 8 LP box sets will be available on September 4th via Rhino Records.
Spanning 61 tracks, the box sets include studio recordings, live performances, rare alternate takes, and material drawn from multiple decades and record labels, among them are two previously unreleased 1980 demos.
The set features contributions from some of Mitchell’s most important collaborators in jazz, among them Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, and Charles Mingus. Mitchell, who calls Shorter her favorite collaborator, dedicates the collection to him following his passing in 2023.
Covering nearly every era of her recording career, the collection includes selections from Songs to a Seagull, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Hejira, Mingus, Turbulent Indigo, the Grammy-winning Both Sides Now, and more. It also features her guest appearances on projects like Hancock’s Grammy Award-winning album, River: The Joni Letters.
Across the collection, the music follows Mitchell’s artistic growth — from the rhythmic layering of “Harry’s House/Centerpiece” to the bold experimentation of “The Jungle Line,” the narrative scale of “Paprika Plains,” and the airy, improvised feel of “A Chair In The Sky.”
It draws from more than five decades of Mitchell’s recordings, going back to 1968 for “Marcie,” from Song to a Seagull. The most recent is her performance of “Summertime,” recorded live at the 2023 Newport Folk Festival. It marked Mitchell’s first full-length concert in over two decades — a powerful return that resonated around the world.
As a self-portrait in sound, Joni’s Jazz captures an artist in conversation with jazz over a lifetime — never imitating, always inventing. Last year, in the liner notes for Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 4, she joked, “People ask me my favorite of my albums, it’s going to be Joni’s Jazz.” Now it is.
CD 1:
- Blue
- Trouble Man – Kyle Eastwood featuring Joni Mitchell
- Moon at the Window (Demo)
- Be Cool (Demo)
- Harlem in Havana
- Cherokee Louise
- Come in From the Cold
- In France they Kiss on Main Street
- Nothing Can Be Done
- Sex Kills
- Edith and the Kingpin
- Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire
- The Jungle Line
- Shades of Scarlett Conquering
- Yvette in English
- Marcie
- A Bird That Whistles
CD 2:
- Love
- Comes Love
- The Man I Love – Herbie Hancock featuring Joni Mitchell
- At Last
- You’re My Thrill
- Sometimes I’m Happy
- Stay in Touch
- The Crazy Cries of Love
- Face Lift
- Sweet Sucker Dance (Early Alternate Version)
- You Dream Flat Tires
- Answer Me, My Love
- Love Puts on a New Face
- Both Sides Now
CD 3:
- Harry’s House/Centerpiece
- Sunny Sunday
- Hana
- Last Chance Lost
- Smokin’ (Empty, Try Another)
- Hejira (Live at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, September 9, 1979)
- Refuge of the Dogs
- Paprika Plains
- Blue Motel Room
- Black Crow
- Off Night Blackstreet
- Just Like This Train
- No Apologies
- Not to Blame
- The Magdalene Laundries
CD 4:
- The Sire of Sorrow (Job’s Sad Song)
- God Must Be a Boogie Man
- A Chair in the Sky
- Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Live at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, September 9, 1979)
- The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms) – Herbie Hancock featuring Joni Mitchell
- Shine
- If I Had a Heart
- Impossible Dreamer
- One Week Last Summer
- Summertime (Live at Newport Folk Festival, July 22, 2023)
- Stormy Weather
- Two Grey Rooms (Demo)
- The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines
- Twisted
- If
