Joni Mitchell releases Joni’s Jazz, a passion project years in the making. This career-spanning collection features recordings chosen by Mitchell that reflect jazz’s profound influence on her music.
The release is available now as an 8LP vinyl box set, a 4CD edition, and across all digital and streaming platforms. Both the vinyl and CD versions include liner notes with rare and previously unseen photos and original artwork by Mitchell. Order HERE.
An exclusive Joni Mitchell Archives fine-art print is available as a gift-with-purchase exclusive from jonimitchell.com.
Spanning 61 tracks, Joni’s Jazz includes studio recordings, live performances, rare alternate takes and previously unreleased demos, and material drawn from multiple decades and record labels. Listen to today’s release day focus track, “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Live at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, September 9, 1979)” HERE.
The set features contributions from some of Mitchell’s most important collaborators in jazz, among them Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, and Charles Mingus. Mitchell, who calls Shorter her favorite collaborator, dedicates the collection to him following his passing in 2023. “It was a joy to play with him,” she writes. “He will be missed, but he will remain alive for me in this music.”
Covering nearly every era of her recording career, the collection includes selections from Songs To A Seagull, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Hejira, Mingus, Turbulent Indigo, Both Sides Now (a 2001 GRAMMY® Award winner), and more. It also features her guest appearances on projects like Hancock’s GRAMMY® Award-winning album, River: The Joni Letters.
Across the collection, the music follows Mitchell’s artistic growth — from the rhythmic layering of “Harry’s House / Centerpiece” to the bold experimentation of “The Jungle Line,” the narrative scale of “Paprika Plains,” and the airy, improvised feel of “A Chair In The Sky.”
It draws from more than five decades of Mitchell’s recordings, going back to 1968 for “Marcie,” from Song To A Seagull. The most recent is her performance of “Summertime,” recorded live at the 2023 Newport Folk Festival. It marked Mitchell’s first full-length concert in over two decades — a powerful return that resonated around the world.
As a self-portrait in sound, Joni’s Jazz captures an artist in conversation with jazz over a lifetime — never imitating, always inventing. Last year, in the liner notes for Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 4, she joked, “People ask me my favorite of my albums, it’s going to be Joni’s Jazz.” Now it is.
JONI’S JAZZ
8LP Track Listing
LP One
Side One
“Blue”
“Trouble Man” – Kyle Eastwood feat. Joni Mitchell
“Moon At The Window” – Demo 2 *
“Be Cool” – Demo 2 *
“Harlem In Havana”
Side Two
“Cherokee Louise”
“Come In From The Cold”
“In France They Kiss On Main Street”
“Nothing Can Be Done”
LP Two
Side One
“Sex Kills”
“Edith And The Kingpin”
“Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire”
“The Jungle Line”
Side Two
“Shades Of Scarlett Conquering”
“Yvette In English”
“Marcie”
“A Bird That Whistles”
LP Three
Side One
“Love”
“Comes Love”
“The Man I Love” – Herbie Hancock feat. Joni Mitchell
Side Two
“At Last”
“You’re My Thrill”
“Sometimes I’m Happy”
“Stay In Touch”
LP Four
Side One
“The Crazy Cries Of Love”
“Face Lift”
“Sweet Sucker Dance” – Early Alternate Version
Side Two
“You Dream Flat Tires”
“Answer Me, My Love”
“Love Puts On A New Face”
“Both Sides Now”
LP Five
Side One
“Harry’s House/Centerpiece”
“Sunny Sunday”
“Hana”
“Last Chance Lost”
“Smokin’ (Empty, Try Another)”
Side Two
“Paprika Plains”
LP Six
Side One
“Hejira” – Live at The Santa Barbara County Bowl (10/9/79)
“Refuge Of The Roads”
“Blue Motel Room”
Side Two
“Black Crow”
“Off Night Backstreet”
“Just Like This Train”
“No Apologies”
“Not To Blame”
“The Magdalene Laundries”
LP Seven
Side One
“The Sire Of Sorrow (Job’s Sad Song)”
“God Must Be A Boogie Man”
“A Chair In The Sky”
Side Two
“Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” – Live at The Santa Barbara County Bowl (10/9/79)
“The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)” – Herbie Hancock feat. Joni Mitchell
“Shine”
LP Eight
Side One
“If I Had A Heart”
“Impossible Dreamer”
“One Week Last Summer”
“Summertime” – Live at Newport Folk Festival (7/22/23)
Side Two
“Stormy Weather”
“Two Grey Rooms” – Demo 5
“The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines”
“Twisted”
“If”
JONI’S JAZZ
4CD Track Listing
CD One
“Blue”
“Trouble Man” – Kyle Eastwood feat. Joni Mitchell
“Moon At The Window” – Demo 2 *
“Be Cool” – Demo 2 *
“Harlem In Havana”
“Cherokee Louise”
“Come In From The Cold”
“In France They Kiss On Main Street”
“Nothing Can Be Done”
“Sex Kills”
“Edith And The Kingpin”
“Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire”
“The Jungle Line”
“Shades Of Scarlett Conquering”
“Yvette In English”
“Marcie”
“A Bird That Whistles”
CD Two
“Love”
“Comes Love”
“The Man I Love” – Herbie Hancock feat. Joni Mitchell
“At Last”
“You’re My Thrill”
“Sometimes I’m Happy”
“Stay In Touch”
“The Crazy Cries Of Love”
“Face Lift”
“Sweet Sucker Dance” – Early Alternate Version
“You Dream Flat Tires”
“Answer Me, My Love”
“Love Puts On A New Face”
“Both Sides Now”
CD Three
“Harry’s House/Centerpiece”
“Sunny Sunday”
“Hana”
“Last Chance Lost”
“Smokin’ (Empty, Try Another)”
“Hejira” – Live at The Santa Barbara County Bowl (10/9/79)
“Refuge Of The Roads”
“Paprika Plains”
“Blue Motel Room”
“Black Crow”
“Off Night Backstreet”
“Just Like This Train”
“No Apologies”
“Not To Blame”
“The Magdalene Laundries”
CD Four
“The Sire Of Sorrow (Job’s Sad Song)”
“God Must Be A Boogie Man”
“A Chair In The Sky”
“Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” – Live at The Santa Barbara County Bowl (10/9/79)
“The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)” – Herbie Hancock feat. Joni Mitchell
“Shine”
“If I Had A Heart”
“Impossible Dreamer”
“One Week Last Summer”
“Summertime” – Live at Newport Folk Festival (7/22/23)
“Stormy Weather”
“Two Grey Rooms” – Demo 5
“The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines”
“Twisted”
“If”
* Previously Unreleased
