Hauntingly beautiful lyrics and scintillating jazz form
If you want the Californian music experience, then Hejira (named after the album) was the place to be! This is not just because the show happened during a heat wave. Hejira breathe new life into the lyrics of Joni Mitchell with their own musical arrangements that showcase just how well Mitchell’s lyrics marry with a free jazz form. The audience was clear mix of people new to the band and others that know them well, along with their production company ‘The Spin’. Overall, I would say I felt like we were as much invited to come listen to the band with open arms as we were patrons to the night.
The band were spectacular, with some excellent procession and drums that conjured up images of Ginger Baker and John Bonham and some excellent ‘Samba’ beats. The saxophonist brought the cool that only a saxophone can bring, mixing up his instruments throughout to find the perfect sound for each song. We were taken on a journey of jazz styles, marrying well with some of the more ‘Country’ styles of songs like ‘Coyote’. The guitar, bass and keyboard brought an interesting flavour to the sound, with some points enjoying some hard ‘Blues’ rhythms gave reminisces to ‘John Lee Hooker’, guitar solos that aped ‘Gary Moore’ and at other points journeying into a more ‘Prog Rock’ style. A particular favourite moment for me and my die-hard love for bass, was when the bassist employed the use of a loop peddle to build multiple lines on top of each other, slowly melding together a funky and excellent arrangement. All this displayed the range of talent of the musicians. Safe to say the band explored the full spectrum that jazz bleeds into, along with some joyous dips into Latin rhythms all topped with the hauntingly beautiful singing of Hattie Whitehead.
Despite the heat, we all had a wonderful night. If you were in the audience, though you couldn’t be physically you could at least mentally ‘Be Cool’.
This is a band to see, not only for their tribute to the powerful songs of Joni, but to see how they play off each other, build their sound together and brining in some excellent harmonies.