It would be easy to see Herbie Hancock’s latest project, the Joni letters, as an extension of his attempts to delve deeply into popular music with deep jazz arrangements and interpretations, as he did on the groundbreaking New Standards and the more pop-oriented Possibilities. However, Hancock and producer/arranger Larry Klein, Joni Mitchell’s longtime partner and collaborator, spent a long time looking very closely at Mitchell’s lyrics and attempting to create arrangements that would do more than accompany them. Instead they sought to use the music to help convey the song’s lyrical meaning and feeling.

The result is an album of musical depth, with a lot to listen to for jazz fans and music lovers, even though more pop-oriented listeners can still enjoy the vocal performances of the six singers (five female, including Mitchell herself, and one male) that were chosen to sing several of Mitchell’s songs. For example, the opener, a rendition of ‘Court and Spark’ sung by Norah Jones, benefits from Hancock’s ability to go outside the song’s prescribed chords as well as from the way Wayne Shorter plays with the song’s melodic elements. The result features Jones’ pleasant take on Mitchell’s writing and phrasing, but provides a much deeper listening experience than would likely result from Jones merely covering the song, accompanying herself.

Most of Mitchell’s material here is from the period 1974, when she released Court and Spark, 1975, when the much-underrated Hissing of Summer Lawns was released, and 1976’s Hejira. The outliers are the instrumental rendition of ‘Both Sides Now’, which came from 1969’s Clouds, “River” from 1971’s Blue, and ‘The Tea Leaf Prophecies,’ from 1988’s Chalkmark in a Rainstorm, sung by Mitchell herself. From 1974-1976, Mitchell moved increasingly in the direction of jazz. Her first attempts were less than convincing on some level, because they maintained a high degree of pop sensibility and because her studio backup musicians (including Tom Scott’s fusion band L. A. Express on Miles of Aisles) just didn’t seem free enough to convey the way that Mitchell’s lyrics were helping drive her music itself to a different place. The take here on the Court and Spark and Hissing of Summer Lawns material is especially gratifying. Tina Turner turns in a fine vocal performance on “Edith and the Kingpin,” while Hancock and Shorter, aided the ubiquitous Lionel Loueke on guitar, Dave Holland on bass, and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums lace the accompaniment with the cheesy glitz and sense of foreboding of the lyrics. Luciana Souza has a difficult task in interpreting “Amelia” from Hejira, because its lyrics seem such a personal statement of artistic and human independence that there would seem to be little room for interpretation. Though Souza and the band don’t venture too far from the song’s original feel, it ends up being very much Souza’s interpretation. “Tea Leaf Prophecy” places Mitchell in front of this stellar jazz ensemble, reuniting her with Hancock (who played on Mingus), and demonstrates as well as any track here that Mitchell is an artist with a jazz heart whose work has not always been well served by the pop music industry’s insistence on adapting one’s sound to suit the time which one is recording.

The instrumental numbers are equally gratifying, with the band deconstructing ‘Both Sides Now,’ but maintaining the song’s inherent beauty and melancholy even while exploring its harmonic possibilities. “Solitude” and “Nefertiti” are jazz instrumentals that both speak to the influence of jazz music on Mitchell’s own work. Ellington’s “solitude” speaks to the influence of Ellington himself, as an artist and composer of jazz standards, show music, ambitious suites of music, sacred music, and more. Ellington’s ‘beyond category’ statement would certainly be appropriate in any in-depth examination of Mitchell’s work as well. Like a few other female songwriters—most notably Laura Nyro and Rickie lee Jones—Mitchell finds her inspiration in jazz, rhythm and blues, female singing groups, and gospel as well as other mainstream forms of popular music. Wayne Shorter’s “Nefertiti,” composed when he was with the Miles Davis Quintet, is a touchstone in the way it emphasized rhythm over melody. Mitchell has always considered Davis, along with visual artist Pablo Picasso, to be a major influence. “Nefertiti” gets a nice updating and features Shorter on tenor sax.

Mitchell’s music will continue to be of interest to jazz singers and songwriters (see my piece The New Singer-Songwriters) as well as musicians who value music that responds well to a deep reading. River: The Joni Letters is a valentine from the world of jazz to Mitchell, communicating that her heartfelt experimentation with that world has stood the test of time and come full circle to influence the music that influenced her.