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River: The Joni Letters (with Bonus Tracks) - Amazon.com Exclusive by Verve List Price: $18.98 Unavailable for purchase at this time

The legendary pianist and innovator Herbie Hancock explores the words and music of another musical pioneer, Joni Mitchell, on his first new studio recording for Verve since 1998's GRAMMY® award-winning Gershwin's World.

Inspired in equal parts by Mitchell's poetic lyrics and unique melodies, Hancock and saxophone giant Wayne Shorter play with a restraint and elegance that achieves a perfect balance between the adventurous aesthetics of jazz improvisation and the emotional directness of the finest Adult Pop music.

Hancock builds upon his (and Shorter's) previous collaborations with Ms. Mitchell to create a sound that will appeal not only to fans of both artists, but to the listener familiar with the work of Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae and the other brilliant guest vocalists featured on this session. River: The Joni Letters is the perfect CD for the music fan looking for something new that's based in the familiar.

On paper, River sounds like a match made in several versions of heaven. Legendary pianist Herbie Hancock re-imagines Joni Mitchell with his hand-picked, star-studded band--including saxophonist Wayne Shorter--in tow. Luminary guests lend vocals to a song apiece: Norah Jones ("Court and Spark"), Tina Turner ("Edith and the Kingpin"), Corinne Bailey Rae ("River"), Luciana Souza ("Amelia"), Leonard Cohen (with an unsettlingly sanguine version of "The Jungle Line"), even Mitchell herself ("Tea Leaf Prophecy"). In the event, though, a few fundamental elements go awry. Hancock plays with almost saccharine understatement throughout, and even Shorter's seminal "Nefertiti" and Duke Ellington's "Solitude" fall into the album's presiding, somnolent surface, though to a lesser degree does the instrumental version of Mitchell's "Sweet Bird." But girding, and in some measure, saving, the proceedings, the lyrics here testify to a subtler wisdom guiding Hancock's set list. The mix includes a continuum from intrepid classics to dusty, fans-only fare, but a distinct reverence for Joni Mitchell the Poet threads them together, and, in the end, this album works best as a sleepy window into one fan's giddy and particular love affair with his source material. Fans of Hancock win out. --Jason Kirk

Customer Reviews:
Great album!	Customer Rating: 4 out of 5
I liked it very much... the covers are great and the total experience is very calm
Cool, flowing river	Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
Joni Mitchell is one of the most talented songwriters of her age. The idea of taking her essentially modern Folk songs and recreating them in a Jazz genre is an interesting one. Add a couple of Jazz standards and no less than seven solo vocalists and the whole thing sounds unmissable. But does it work? For me it did. This is smooth and cool Jazz, in the best senses of those words, and not 'almost saccharine', as the Editorial Review has it. Kenny G it ain't. The standout track is Corinne Bailey Rae's rendition of the title song. Soulful and melodic, it repays repeated listening. Amelia, with vocals from Luciana Souza, is the least satisfactory track, as the singer occasionally slips off key, in a too-relaxed performance. Joni Mitchell's own vocals, on Tea Leaf Prophecy, are surprisingly good. Her voice has mellowed and matured, retaining its interesting phrasing but losing the occasional shrillness and sharpness of earlier years. This is a carefully-wrought, imaginative musical fusion to which every Jazz fan - and Joni fan - should give a fair hearing. [PeterReeve]
Not my type of music and yet I still love it	Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
I saw Herbie Hancock perform two songs on Live From Abby Road and I was simply amazed at how great they were. I have never considered myself a jazz fan, I have never owned or listed to a Herbie Hancock cd and Joni Mitchell does not live in my cd collection of over a 1000 cds. But when I heard the Herbie and Connie Rae Bailey do the River I knew that i had to own the most beautiful song of all time. I bought the album and every song is easy to listen to and comes across as fresh and new even though Herbie is simply adding a twist to Joni Mitchell's songs. I think anyone that enjoys the finer things in life will enjoy this cd.
River-Herbie Hancock	Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
It won the Grammy, a well deserved honor. Listen to the excerpts because this is not your typical Herbie Hancock, but some great interpretive performances.
interesting... charming... worth the purchase	Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
If you like Joni Mitchell you MIGHT like this album. If you like Herbie Hancock and if you like jazz you WILL like this album. Well done, not overplayed... sensitive, pensive, deep. Each song is a seperate world unto itself... a pearl in a string necklace of songs that comprise the whole album. The rotating cameos of vocalists keep each song fresh and surprising. A good record to have. Well recorded. Marc Waszkiewicz Bremerton, Washington

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