Joni Mitchell – Joni's Jazz 8LP Box Set

Joni Mitchell – Joni's Jazz

Joni Mitchell introduces Joni’s Jazz, a passion project years in the making. This 4CD or 8LP edition feature recordings chosen by Mitchell that reflect jazz’s profound influence on her music, liner notes with rare and previously unseen photos and original artwork by Mitchell. Spanning 61 tracks, Joni’s Jazz includes 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. “It was a joy to play with him,” she writes. “He will be missed, but he will remain alive for me in this music.

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, Both Sides Now (a 2001 Grammy Award winner), 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 favourite of my albums, it’s going to be Joni’s Jazz.” Now it is.

Tracklist:
Side One:
1. BLUE
2. TROUBLE MAN – Kyle Eastwood feat. Joni Mitchell
3. MOON AT THE WINDOW – Demo
4. BE COOL – Demo
5. HARLEM IN HAVANA

Side Two:
1. CHEROKEE LOUISE
2. COME IN FROM THE COLD
3. IN FRANCE THEY KISS ON MAIN STREET
4. NOTHING CAN BE DONE

Side Three:
1. SEX KILLS
2. EDITH AND THE KINGPIN
3. COLD BLUESTEEL AND SWEET FIRE
4. THE JUNGLE LINE

Side Four:
1. SHADES OF SCARLETT CONQUERING
2. YVETTE IN ENGLISH
3. MARCIE
4. A BIRD THAT WHISTLES

Side Five:
1. LOVE
2. COMES LOVE
3. THE MAN I LOVE – Herbie Hancock feat. Joni Mitchell

Side Six:
1. AT LAST
2. YOU’RE MY THRILL
3. SOMETIMES I’M HAPPY
4. STAY IN TOUCH

Side Seven:
1. THE CRAZY CRIES OF LOVE
2. FACE LIFT
3. SWEETSUCKER DANCE – Early Alternate Version

Side Eight:
1. YOU DREAM FLAT TIRES
2. ANSWER ME, MY LOVE
3.LOVE PUTS ON A NEW FACE
4. BOTH SIDES NOW

Side Nine:
1. HARRY’S HOUSE/CENTERPIECE
2. SUNNY SUNDAY
3.HANA
4. LAST CHANCE LOST
5. SMOKIN’ (EMPTY, TRY ANOTHER)

Side Ten:
1. PAPRIKA PLAINS

Side Eleven:
1. HEJIRA – Live at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, September 9, 1979
2. REFUGE OF THE ROADS
3. BLUE MOTEL ROOM

Side Twelve:
1. BLACK CROW
2. OFF NIGHT BACKSTREET
3. JUSTLIKE THIS TRAIN
4. NO APOLOGIES
5. NOT TO BLAME
6. THEMAGDALENE LAUNDRIES

Side Thirteen:
1. THE SIRE OF SORROW (JOB’S SAD SONG)
2. GODMUST BE A BOOGIE MAN
3. A CHAIR IN THE SKY

Side Fourteen:
1. GOODBYE PORK PIE HAT – Live at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, September 9, 1979
3. THE TEA LEAFPROPHECY (LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS) – Herbie Hancock feat. Joni Mitchell
3. SHINE

Side Fifteen:
1. IF I HAD A HEART
2. IMPOSSIBLE DREAMER
3. ONEWEEK LAST SUMMER
4. SUMMERTIME – Live at Newport Folk Festival, July 22, 2023

Side Sixteen:
1. STORMY WEATHER
2. TWO GREY ROOMS – Demo
3. THE DRY CLEANER FROM DES MOINES
4. TWISTED
5. IF

Label: Rhino Records
Released: 2025