A Joni Mitchell tribute album, celebrating her 75th birthday, will feature live renditions of the singer’s songs by Brandi Carlile, Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, James Taylor and many others. The record, Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration, will come out on March 8th. It contains a recording of a tribute concert that was held in her honor in Los Angeles last November.
The concert will additionally be broadcast in movie theaters on February 7th. Tickets are available at the Joni 75 website.
Percussionist Brian Blade, who made three studio albums and toured with Mitchell, served as the evening’s co-musical director alongside producer and arranger Jon Cowherd.
The evening was presented by the Music Center, a non-profit organization that tries to bring artists and communities together with an eye toward enriching the lives of people living in Los Angeles County. “By honoring Joni Mitchell, an amazing iconic artist, the Music Center had an incredible opportunity to bring her music to Los Angeles audiences,” the organization’s president and CEO, Rachel Moore, said in a statement. “Now that experience can be enjoyed by many more Joni Mitchell fans with an album that allows other music legends to shine a light on her artistry.”
Rolling Stone reviewed the concert and called it a “moving tribute show.” “The unifying effect of Mitchell’s music rang out with a closing group singalong to ‘Big Yellow Taxi,’ one of the more ebullient standouts from her oeuvre,” the review reads. “The billed artists stood side by side … and belted the number, a bright rumination on the harrowing effects that man has on society. They each delivered solos, then bowed in unison, as a portrait of Mitchell loomed in the background, a fitting homage to an icon whose presence is still felt, even in her absence.”
Mitchell herself, who has been battling health issues, did not take the stage at the event.
Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration track list:
1. “Dreamland” – Los Lobos with La Marisoul, Xochi Flores and Cesar Castro
2. “Help Me” – Chaka Khan
3. “Amelia” – Diana Krall
4. “All I Want” – Rufus Wainwright
5. “Coyote” – Glen Hansard
6. “River” – James Taylor
7. “Both Sides Now” – Seal
8. “Our House” – Graham Nash
9. “A Case of You” – Kris Kristofferson and Brandi Carlile
10. “Down to You” – Brandi Carlile
11. “Blue” – Rufus Wainwright
12. “Court And Spark” – Norah Jones
13. “Nothing Can Be Done” – Los Lobos with La Marisoul, Xochi Flores and Cesar Castro
14. “The Magdalene Laundries” – Emmylou Harris
15. “Woodstock” – James Taylor
16. “Big Yellow Taxi” – La Marisoul, James Taylor, Chaka Khan and Brandi Carlile