Blue: The Songs of Joni Mitchell

Blue: The Songs of Joni Mitchell
Queenie van de Zandt. The Q, Queanbeyan, 2–3 March, and touring

In Blue: The Songs of Joni Mitchell, Queenie van de Zandt offers a new take on songs from Joni Mitchell’s oeuvre and the role of life events in shaping Mitchell’s lyrics, presenting the latter partly through narration and partly through recordings of — or apparently of — others narrating events in Mitchell’s life, including Mitchell, her mother, and her daughter.

 

With plenty of rugs, dozens of candles, and a few other homely bits and pieces, including her painted self-portrait, the set resonated with Joni Mitchell’s countercultural influences.  But it was van de Zandt’s natural wit and engagement with the audience that drew us in to appreciate the personal importance of these events.

 

Interpreting Mitchell’s songs with originality and flair but highlighting moments in her own way, van de Zandt used her voice perhaps as versatilely as Mitchell herself.  And equally impressive were her fellow musicians, shining in the beautiful arrangements by the show’s musical director, Max Lambert: Lambert himself, playing superbly on a full-sized grand piano; Roger Lock, playing quiet riffs on electric and acoustic guitar; Hugh Fraser, on double bass.  Their interplay was tight and mellow and perfectly suited van de Zandt’s impression of Mitchell.

 

The presentation was seamless; the music, easy on the ears; the evening, a splendid tribute to an icon of enlightened creative freedom.

John P. Harvey

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