5. Shadows and Light ... Joni Mitchell

Lyrics didn’t mean much to me until I heard them in this setting. 1987. My first year at Berklee College of Music in Boston, first time away from home. Within weeks of my arrival, bassist Jaco Pastorius died, and I discovered Joni.

This live CD is essentially the Pat Metheny Group, playing Joni songs. It featured Jaco heavily. Joni and Jaco connected BIG on this recording. While most people have never even heard of this recording, it changed my musical life as much as Dark Side and Moving Pictures.

There is a very cool DVD of this concert too… it's anything but slick... but hey, it's 1980 right?

This might seem like an odd observation, but no album on my list carries the RISK this one does. It’s one of the gutsiest musical calls from a singer/songwriter that has ever been. Coyote, Pork Pie Hat, Dry Cleaner, Amelia, even the silly crowd pleaser songs at the end… WAY out on a limb, without a net. And on that limb, a perfect Joni bird sings, completely unaware of the dangerous musical territory she’s in.

If you don’t feel like purchasing the cd, at least spend the 99 cents to download “In France they Kiss on Main Street” or “Coyote” from itunes. Then tell me where on the entire musical planet other music like this is.

I sure wish I could personally thank Joni for this recording. But she’d probably think I’m nuts.