A tribute in tune with Joni
The salute saw Shawn Colvin soar.
Tribute concerts are tricky things.
With multiple performers tackling the sacred songs of an icon - often on short notice - it's easy for interpretations to end up imitative, perverse, literal-minded, indulgent or just plain dull.
The land mines multiply when you're talking about saluting an artist like Joni Mitchell. Not only does her catalogue have few peers, the material features chord changes and melody lines that could daunt even the most seasoned star.
Thankfully, the concert given in tribute to Mitchell at Carnegie Hall Wednesday kept the missteps to a minimum. And those artists who brought daring and dash to the songs more than made up for them.
This particular tribute was more necessary than most. Since Mitchell says she'll no longer perform, record or write, it's up to others to keep her legacy alive.
Not that she's showing much interest these days. While Mitchell appeared at past toasts to her talent, this time she had curator Michael Dorf read a note revealing the following excuse: "My cat is sick and I can't leave."
Why not stick with "My dog ate it"?
At least the night's proceeds benefited a worthy cause - Music for Youth, which provides lessons in the schools.
Any serious music student could have learned plenty from Wednesday's show. With 24 artists taking on as many Mitchell songs, the show made fans marvel, again, at the breadth and musicality of her work. Genres included rockabilly (a campy take on "Raised on Robbery" from Neil Sedaka), folk (Judy Collins' sterling version of "Both Sides Now"), country-rock (Jesse Malin's wily interpretation of "Carey") and jazz (Meshell Ndegeocello's rubbery "Cherokee Louise").
Many artists fiddled with the songs' points of view: The alterna-rock band the Eels inverted "All I Want" from an expression of female need into an example of male withholding. Tom Rush turned Mitchell's tale of wanderlust ("Urge for Going") into a rumination on lost opportunities. Nellie McKay made "Chelsea Morning" plucky.
No one selected Mitchell songs from the '80s - not bad considering her output then. While classics of the '60s and '70s dominated, two of the night's highlights came from 1994's "Turbulent Indigo."
Shawn Colvin found a sturdier melody for the title track. And Bettye LaVette performed miracles by turning "Last Chance Lost" into a desperate soul shouter, contrasting its spare instrumentation with high drama.
There were stumbles: Michelle Williams (of Destiny's Child, not "Brokeback Mountain") couldn't find the melody, or the rhythm, of "Help Me." And the Native American singer Joanne Shenandoah delivered "The Dawntreader" entirely flat.
But the night's flaws faded in the face of performers like the Wood Brothers, who gave "Black Crow" a sexy new jazz groove. Or Richie Havens, who turned "Woodstock" into a tale of youthful possibilities squandered.
Such moments made this tribute not a rote rehash, but a night adventurous enough to deserve Mitchell's difficult, hungry spirit.
