The musician Joni Mitchell said conveyed emotion “without words”
As a singer-songwriter, Joni Mitchell‘s choice of words is everything to her craft. She pours tremendous thought into making each syllable essential to her storytelling, ultimately bringing her vision to life. However, one of Mitchell’s heroes was graced with such mesmeric musical talent that the Canadian claimed he could convey everything he wanted to say “without words”.
During the early 2000s, Mitchell fell out of love with music as an art form for many years due to the industry’s inner workings, which repulsed her. Travelogue was supposed to be her retirement album as she was set to focus on painting and other interests, which made her feel positive, which she’d lost from music.
The reason for her fire reigniting came from the most unlikely of places: coffee conglomerate Starbucks. In 2007, they asked a series of iconic artists, including Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones, to curate a compilation of their favourite songs sold in their stores. For Mitchell, this presented a challenge and an opportunity to fall in love with music all over again.
During an interview with The Guardian, Mitchell explained: “I listened to everything I ever loved to see if it held up, and much did. So I put together one that starts with Debussy, then takes a journey up through Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday and Miles Davis, and then Louis Jordan.”
She added: “That joyous music was conceived in such terrible times – and it was such a great relief to the culture at the time. That’s the trouble with now. Now we’ve got a horrible culture, horrible times and horrible music.”
All artists featured in the collection created music that matters to Mitchell, and Davis’ work is more significant than most. On the compilation, she picked his track ‘It Never Entered My Mind’ and explained of her selection: “Miles was contemptuous of singers. He said, ‘They’ve got words – I’ve got to do it without the words.’ On this track, Miles sings. He captures and transmits – without words – all we need to know about the situation- in the universal language of tone.”
Davis, a trumpeter and bandleader, didn’t use his voice within his music, but he more than compensated for his lack of lyrics in other areas. While he’s one of Mitchell’s all-time favourite artists, her love of jazz wasn’t sparked until later in her career, which led to a change in her style on 1979’s Mingus, a collaborative album with musical extraordinaire Charles Mingus.
Upon hearing the news of Davis’ passing in 1991 following a fatal stroke, Joni was devastated and paid a unique tribute to the legendary musician. However, instead of writing a song in his honour, she painted a majestic portrait of the late talent.
Listen to ‘It Never Entered My Mind’ while marvelling at Mitchell’s painting, attached below.
