She's got a special way,' Herbie Hancock says of the singer-songwriter. He's on the 'Joni's Jazz' bill with Wayne Shorter, Kurt Elling and many others.
An eclectic group will assemble onstage Wednesday night at the Hollywood Bowl to riff on the work of Joni Mitchell. Oddly, one thing many of these artists — who range from jazz to folk to indie rock — have in common is that they arrived late to the music of the flaxen-haired troubadour.
Wednesday's concert comes in some ways out of Hancock's album, though the personnel is a bit different. The Bowl show will include R&B singer Chaka Khan, jazz crooner Cassandra Wilson and Irish folk-rock singer Glen Hansard, who, as half of the Swell Season, made a riveting Bowl appearance last summer. (Drummer Brian Blade and pianist Jon Cowherd will handle the arrangements with an ensemble including such stalwarts as Tom Scott and Mark Isham.)
With such an odd lineup — and such a stubbornly individual artist — it's anybody's guess what this will be like. "I think they'll be pretty faithful to the arrangements of the record," Mann says. "I don't think anybody is going to bust out a metal jam."
More @ Los Angeles Times
