julius wrote:
<<It says something, although I can't explain exactly what, that so many of us
Black folk have been into Joni for so long. I can't think of many other white
artists who have that kind of cross-over appeal, with the possible exception
of maybe Janis and Laura Nyro...>>
julius, i just want you to know that this gives me joy thinking about it and i
would love to hear any more about this topic that you may or may not feel like
sharing...
there has always been decipherable some kind of canadian - american black
bond, from the time of the underground railroad until now...
funny how things filter through...i remember having beers, probably underage,
in a downtown philly bar...it was, a black guy told me sitting near, not a bar
for whites...i told him i was canadian and didn't know that...and then he
warmed to me and welcomed me to the establishment because i was canadian and
canadian was cool... so there i was an underage blond 17 year old soakin' up
the schlitz's with some pretty 'jazzy cats'...needless to say i ended up
playing piano at a pretty boudoir-looking nitespot called "mae's place" that
same evening...every weekend i was welcome to add my stride piano to the
general atmosphere, the shadier sides of which i was, like a prairie boy off
the farm, totally oblivious...
its partly perhaps the lack of a jaded filter also in joni mitchell, a
transplant on the american scene...and someone with her talent cannot fail to
recognize that the distinctively north american music, especially jazz but
also rock and blues owes its origins and inspiration to the legacy of the
american black...
charles mingus was a legend in his own time...that he would dedicate his last
songs to joni's care was a fabulous display of guts and intuition...
but you and other black members of this list can tell me much more, than to
have this greenhorn
ramble on...
ciao,
shane
