Friday 5th July

Joni came out of that early folk movement where Joan Baez and Judy Collins and Buffy sang songs of medieval nights and faery queens.  But Joni was always something else too – a poetess of the heart.  Her songs were confessional poems of longing and loss and those of us who worshipped at her altar appreciated her for her words as much as for her music.  But it certainly wasn’t just the words that mattered.  She developed her own style of playing both guitar and piano that continued to push the boundaries with unconventional tunings and rambling and seemingly random piano chords sprinkled like confetti on the marriage of music and words.   She also had the voice of an angel which like all the best artists is instantly recognizable as Joni, whatever she sings.  It felt like she was singing just for you, it was so intimate.

She rose quickly to fame with the album ‘Blue’ and followed this with at least half a dozen superb records, each pushing her voice and poetry to new limits.  But more and more she was drifting towards jazz in her singing until what for me remains possibly her greatest album ‘Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter’ and it’s follow-up ‘Mingus’ managed to alienate most of her earlier devotees.  She stopped playing live and seemed to spurn fame and though she continued to record for a few years has returned to her first medium painting.

She stopped recording almost two decades ago and though her fans continue begging her to tour or make another record I think she is right. She has nothing to say to us now and we must glean our wisdom from her earlier work, where she has managed to distill beauty from sadness time and time again.  Favourite album – a tough one, I used to love Blue best of all, but now it may be Hejira or Don Juan that contain the best of Joni.  But really it is all good, even her later more conventional albums contain rare gems that suddenly lift the heart as you listen.