Every picture has its shadows
and it has some source of light
Blindness, blindness and sight
the perils of benefactors
the blessings of parasites
Blindness, blindness and sight
Threatened by all things…
– Singer/Songwriter: Joni Mitchell
LET’S HAVE a bit of foreplay on the quo warranto petition now hanging on the neck of ABS-CBN:
So you stand with ABS-CBN if you profit by its continued existence, then by all means do so. In fact you can even sit or lie down with them, otherwise you’re just a trendy social-climbing fool completely out of touch with reality!
Once more for the road:
I have read the 60 pages quo warranto petition against ABS-CBN. In fact I read it twice. You have to be some kind of special idiot to say it’s an assault on press freedom that or you’re just a trendy social-climbing fool. And by the way, the expiration of a franchise and failure to renew it is also not an assault on press freedom. But then again you’re all of the above so no surprises really…
And we segue to the topic at hand which is by far more interesting and a clever way to condescend on those “cerebrally challenged” Frappuccino-infused trendy social-climbing so-called millennials.
From that free online encyclopedia a.k.a. the internet:
Shadows and Light is a 1980 live double album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. It was recorded at the Santa Barbara Bowl in September 1979 on Mitchell’s Mingus tour. It was released on CD October 25, 1990 by Elektra/Wea/Rhino.
A film of the concert was also released on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD.
Before the so-called millennials get lost in translation:
Roberta Joan “Joni” Mitchell is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Drawing from folk, pop, rock, and jazz, Mitchell’s songs often reflect social and environmental ideals as well as her feelings about romance, confusion, disillusionment, and joy. She has received many accolades, including nine Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Rolling Stone called her “one of the greatest songwriters ever”, and AllMusic has stated, “When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th centur.”
Mitchell is the sole producer credited on most of her albums, including all her work in the 1970s. A blunt critic of the music industry, she quit touring and released her 17th, and reportedly last, album of original songs in 2007. With roots in visual art, Mitchell has designed most of her own album covers. She describes herself as a “painter derailed by circumstance.”
On top of all that, Joni Mitchell wrote and first performed “Woodstock”, the anthemic song of the festival it commemorates and is symbolic of the counterculture of the 1960s.
After establishing herself as a several times Grammy Awards winner in the folk rock genre she begun flirting with another music genre, jazz.
She rubbed elbows, collaborated and recorded several jazz albums with some of the top jazz musicians in her time i.e. Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, and Charles Mingus.
The epitome of her forays into the jazz genre is the live album Shadows and Light recorded when she was on tour with jazz great, the late bassist Charles Mingus.
From www.allmusic.com AllMusic Review by Vik Iyengar:
Shadows and Light is Joni Mitchell’s second live album, and it serves as a good retrospective of her jazzy period from 1975-1979. As expected, she assembles a group of all-star musicians including Pat Metheny (guitar), Jaco Pastorius (bass), Lyle Mays (keyboards), and Michael Brecker (saxophone) who give these compositions more energy than on the studio recordings. If there is a general theme of these songs, it’s about growing older and maturing after the failed idealism of the late ‘60s (the album opens with audio clips from the movie Rebel without a Cause). Although this album is pleasing, the live arrangements are not different enough from the studio versions to warrant higher marks. In fact, Mitchell has always been an album artist who recorded studio albums that had a sound and feel all their own.
Still from www.allmusic.com an opinion by Jonathan Guarriello:
This album is killer, if you’re fans of high-octane fusion music than you should check this out. This album features songs from all Joni’s albums that cover what could be called her jazz fusion period from 1975-1980 which encompass the album’s The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Hejira,Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, and Mingus Pork Pie Hat vastly out does the studio version.
I hate to say it but I think cocaine also played a part in this group’s manic energy and drive, it was the early ‘80s after all and blow for musicians seemed to be the norm but it would ruin the great Pastorius who tragically would be dead seven years after this was recorded.
In my opinion these live arrangements are much better than the studio versions all around. If you’re a fan of Joni’s fusion period then I highly recommend this. I also recommend this to serious bass players who wanna study the great Jaco Pastorius at the peak of his powers.
It was surreal writing this column with Shadows and Light blasting on the stereo, a bottle of chilled Chablis – a lovely way to spend an otherwise lonely afternoon. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
