Kiki Ebsen's Joni Mitchell Project Sets 2nd JONI MITCHELL BIRTHDAY BASH

How much do you know about the music of Joni Mitchell? How much do you know about the life of Joni Mitchell? Everything you'd want to know about the life and loves of Joni are found on every album across the past 50 years. Much about Joni's life is committed to biographical anthologies that attempt to explain her life to those who love her music.

But it's in her songs where the musicians Joni loved are immortalized; those whose attention eluded her faced excoriation in grand style. Her catalog is a collective mystique of independent thinking and bold living. Some describe it as reckless, when in fact it appears deliberate.

Morgellons Syndrome had begun to halt Joni's touring in 2009, yet it reached a full stop in March 2015, after suffering an aneurysm from which she has made slow but sure progress to occasionally enjoy hearing others in concert. Yet, two years ago, singer-songwriter Kiki Ebsen reflected on how long it had been since Joni's own music had been heard live and decided to do something about it.

Kiki chose songs from "Song to a Seagull" through "Wild Things Run Fast" (1968-1976) to perform in the spirit of the popular "Shadows and Light" concerts where Joni was joined by Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Lyle Mays, Don Alias and Randy Brecker.

On Tuesday, October 17th, the latest book on Joni Mitchell hits bookstores. Entitled "Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell," David Yaffe's greatly heralded tome joins other authors whose interviews seek to "explain Joni's life." Actually, her music really remains the best explanation of all.

On Sunday, November 5th, Kiki Ebsen's Joni Mitchell Project is performing songs selected from nine of Joni Mitchell's albums at Vitello's Upstairs in Studio City, CA, starting at 7:30 pm. The event is the group's 2nd Annual Birthday Bash in honor of Joni's (Nov. 7th) birthday as these musicians declare their "respect, regard, and unending appreciation for her gifts."

When it comes to books on Joni, there are many candidates of interest. In November 2016, there was "Reckless Daughter: A Joni Mitchell Anthology," by Barney Hoskyns, an anthology of reviews, interviews and-insight. A definitive book, "Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words," by Malka Marom, landed in September 2014, conversations and interviews between two women whose friendship began in 1966 in Yorkville, Toronto, Canada. Even Sheila Weller grouped Joni in with Carole King and Carly Simon in "Girls Like Us" in 2008.

This August Kiki Ebsen released "Cool Songs, Vol. 2-The Music of Joni Mitchell," recorded in her home studio, straight piano and vocals, no editing, in a fashion similar to how Joni would have theoretically composed her songs. As Preston Frazier of Something Else Reviews noted, "Ebsen's voice soars of Joni Mitchell's 1970s-era material, adding a different palette of color to the original recordings...bold and powerful tributes to Joni Mitchell's talent as a writer and Ebsen's skill as an arranger and vocalist.

Kiki Ebsen's Joni Mitchell Project is presently the only band performing Mitchell's wider repertoire regularly in the United States.

Visit Kiki Ebsen's website for more information.

IF YOU GO

Kiki Ebsen's Joni Mitchell Project

November 5 at 7:30 pm; $20/$40

Kiki Ebsen - Vocals, Piano, Guitar

Grant Geissman - Guitars, Sitar

Terry Wollman - Guitars

Steven Lawrence - Bass

Matt Starr - Drums

Vitello's Upstairs is located at 4349 Tujunga Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604. Tickets are $20/$40 and include a birthday cupcake and CD gift for all patrons. Tickets by phone (818-769-0905) or online.