Here's a short but interesting Joni Mitchell concert. From 1968 to 1972, all of her albums had been acoustic. But by 1976, with her "Hejira" studio album, she was getting more into a full-band, jazzy sound. In this concert, she played acoustic guitar and was only backed by Jaco Pastorius on bass and Bobbye Hall on congas. So while it still had a jazzy feel, it was fundamentally acoustic. This allows you to hear songs from her "Hejira" era in very different arrangements than on album.
It's a bootleg with near soundboard-level quality (even though it's actually just a really good audience recording). I cut out some rough bits between songs, like guitar tuning or excessively long cheering.
There's an added bonus in that the last song is a duet with Fred Neil. This has to do with the cause for the benefit concert, which obviously was near and dear to his heart. He basically retired from music around 1970 so he could work full time with a non-profit dedicated to stopping the killing and/or exploitation of dolphins worldwide. This benefit was to "save the whales," a progressive cause that was very popular in the 1970s. (Happily, the consumption of whale meat has gone way down since then and whale populations have increased, so the cause has declined in importance.) I read an article or two about this show, and it sounds like the organizers took the topic very seriously. There was a full day of speeches, films, and exhibits about whales before a concert in the evening. Fred Neil played a set, as did John Sebastian, Country Joe McDonald, and others. Unfortunately, I only have Mitchell's set.
If you're interested, here's a Rolling Stone Magazine article about the show:
Joni Mitchell Library - Whale of a Benefit Concert: Rolling Stone, December 30, 1976
As that article notes, Mitchell's set started unexpectedly late, at one A.M., and she complained about being sleepy. But she sounded just fine, in my opinion. I don't know if the last song is from Neil's set earlier in the evening or if he came back to sing his song "The Dolphins" as a final duet with Mitchell. Either way, it's a nice version.
Also, the reason the show took place in Sacramento is because that's the capital of California. Jerry Brown was the governor at the time, and he seems to have been very involved in the event. He spent all day at the concert with his date, none other than singer Linda Ronstadt.
This album is 40 minutes long.
01 talk (Joni Mitchell)
02 Coyote (Joni Mitchell)
03 Shadows and Light (Joni Mitchell)
04 talk (Joni Mitchell)
05 Jericho (Joni Mitchell)
06 Jaco's Solo [Instrumental] (Jaco Pastorius & Joni Mitchell)
07 Edith and the Kingpin (Joni Mitchell)
08 Furry Sings the Blues (Joni Mitchell)
09 talk (Joni Mitchell)
10 Song for Sharon (Joni Mitchell)
11 The Dolphins (Fred Neil & Joni Mitchell)
I wanted a photo from this exact concert. I found several, all black and white. Since there are zillions of photos of Joni Mitchell out there, I chose one of her singing with Fred Neil. I used the Palette computer program to colorize it, then did some touch-ups.
