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Joni Mitchell

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Canadian writer whose open guitar tunings and jazz turns reshaped what a song could hold, from Blue onward.

Joni Mitchell grew up in Saskatchewan and began in the folk clubs of Toronto, then Detroit and New York, writing songs that other people had hits with before her own records sold. Her guitar playing came out of a childhood bout of polio that weakened her left hand, which pushed her towards the dozens of alternate tunings she used instead of standard chord shapes.

Blue, Court and Spark and The Hissing of Summer Lawns moved steadily away from folk towards jazz, and by Mingus she was setting words to Charles Mingus melodies with Jaco Pastorius and Wayne Shorter playing. She is also a painter, and made most of her own album covers.

popcontemporary folkfolk popjazz popsinger-songwriter