Review: Both Sides Now: Penny King sings Joni Mitchell at The Ellington Jazz Club

Review: Both Sides Now: Penny King sings Joni Mitchell at The Ellington Jazz Club
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Joni Mitchell was alive, well and very much present at the Ellington on Wednesday night— not in the flesh but in spirit through the vivacious voice of Penny King and her ensemble of Perth’s finest jazzmen. Billed as among Australia’s best, Russell Holmes (piano), Jamie Oehlers (tenor sax), Simon Jeans (guitar), Pete Jeavons (electric bass) and Ben Vanderwal (drums) set the sensational ground upon which King’s sweet mezzo-soprano soared.

Joni Mitchell was no stranger to jazz. Although this didn’t come fully to the fore until her controversial 1979 collaboration with legendary bass-man Charles Mingus in the album that bears his name, strains of jazz had been seeping into Mitchell’s music since she first moved beyond her folk roots. The great mid-seventies records, Court and Spark, ‘the travelling album’ Hejira and The Hissing of Summer Lawns (a snake among the sprinklers) are subtly infused with jazz turns. King’s show focused on these along with jazz interpretations of seminal songs from the great early works Clouds, The Ladies of the Canyon and especially the legendary Blue.

For the many diehard Mitchell fans who packed-out Perth’s premier jazz club, every song began with a rush of fond familiarity. But once the deeper jazz sensibilities of these seasoned players took over, there was a subtle shift and the show became something else. Breathing in and out over thirteen songs, the nuances of this magnificent music was effortlessly explored. From the opening piano duets, My Old Man and River, both from Blue, through to the finale, a sparky run through Hejira’s Strange Boy, the trills, turns and solos that naturally flowed from the musicians’ fingers infused the music with fresh life. Together, they skipped a wondrously syncopated beat.

There was no single highlight, rather each song emphasised a different aspect of Mitchell’s songwriting and the ensemble’s virtuosity.

Breathing in, the spare piano duets sent chills down your spine, as too did the beautiful piano — guitar rendition of Both Sides Now, based on the string arrangement from Mitchell’s turn-of-the- century orchestral version. Jeans’ spidering fingers racing up the frets was spooky to see.

Breathing out, the deep jazz of The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines, driven by Jeavons’ Mingus-boggling bass, and the extended romp through Mitchell’s Court and Spark cover of the Annie Ross /Wardle Gray Twisted, were sensational. Twisted’s round-robin of solos — Holmes, Oehlers, Vanderwal — blended with King’s tongue-twisting vocals simply flew. As King said, it took the musicians back to their home turf.

In other songs – Black Crow, Edith and the King Pin and the haunting A Case of You, Mitchell’s ode to Leonard Cohen – the mix of jazz, pop, folk with a dab of soul was exquisite, the most sophisticated blending of modern musics.

Perhaps the most startling arrangement of the night was Woodstock. A hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young as well as Mitchell, King’s version turned this folk-rocker into a wise old jazz magician.

To single out but a few of the musical peaks: Oehlers extended solos on Court and Spark and Black Crow; Vanderwal’s sibilant cymbals on Blue Motel, Jeavons’ bass on Drycleaner, Jeans’ slide along with King’s non-verbal vocalising on Woodstock, and Holmes’ Twisted piano solo.

This show was first presented in 2015 but has been on hold throughout Covid. It will appear again at the Ellington on August 17, maybe with a few additional songs. A night, not only for Joni Mitchell fans, but devotes of superb jazz and lovers of all sophisticated modern music, mark that date in your diaries.

IAN LILBURNE

Photos by Adrian Thomson