Las Vegas, United States (AFP).- Music legends honored the Canadian on Friday Joni Mitchellfolk icon behind classics like A Case Of Youin a pre-Grammy benefit gala.
Artists including Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Angelique Kidjo and Stephen Stills, along with this year’s top Grammy nominee Jon Batiste, paid tribute to the 78-year-old Mitchell’s vast oeuvre at the MusiCares gala.
“It’s been a good year,” the artist known for her distinctive alto and open-tuned guitar, wearing a sequined kimono and black beret, said on the red carpet.
The evening marked a rare public appearance for Mitchell, who in 2015 suffered a brain aneurysm which left her temporarily unable to speak and whose aftermath required extensive physiotherapy.
But on Friday she was beaming, telling reporters she had artistic “ideas” even as she remains focused on improving her health.
When asked by journalists about her health, she replied that “pretty good” and that she had “improved”.
The influential artist who inspired so many, from Neil Diamond to Prince, is perhaps best known for her 1971 album Blue, a deep dive into heartbreak.
Last summer, Blue reached, in its 50th anniversary, the first position in iTunes, surpassing even Sour by pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo.
Expressing his own amazement at the milestone, Mitchell explained his album’s enduring popularity and recent resurgence: “Maybe people want to dig a little deeper.”
“No one writes lyrics like Joni”
Jazz great Hancock, who in 2007 released a Mitchell tribute album titled River: The Joni Letters, he praised the artistic “courage” of his old friend.
“She bare her soul, but she does it in a very poetic way,” Hancock told AFP on the red carpet, hours before performing Mitchell’s song “Hejira” on stage.
She added that Mitchell, who is considered by many to be one of the great songwriters of the 20th century, taught her “how to listen to lyrics.”
“Some people, and I’m one of them, when we listen to music, we listen to the harmonies and the musical textures, and the lyrics sound like gibberish,” she continued.
Still, Mitchell’s “poetry” impresses him, Hancock said: “Nobody writes lyrics like Joni.”
“She has given us all the courage to tell the truth.” said Billy Porter, who paid tribute to Mitchell by singing his beloved Both Sides Now.
“Use our art to grow; use our art to heal,” she noted. “To free other people, she’s powerful in that way.”
The star-studded MusiCares gala is an annual tradition of the Recording Academy’s charitable wing that raises money to help musicians in need ahead of the Grammy Awards.
This year’s celebration also featured a moving remote performance by A Case Of You by Graham Nash of the folk group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, a band Mitchell deeply influenced and with whom he shared a rich working relationship.
He had a relationship with David Crosby and also with Nash, and this last break served as inspiration for several of the songs of Blue, including the touching A Case of You.
In a recorded message, Neil Young sent Mitchell “much love,” while Stephen Stills attended the ceremony in Las Vegas and praised Mitchell as “one of the great artists of this world”.
Stills played guitar as Brandi Carlile sang a bouncy rendition of Woodstock in a packed night of performances, which moved many, especially Mitchell.
“I could retire now and let other people do it,” he joked while accepting the award. “Everyone was splendid.”
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
