The band that Joni Mitchell always wanted to reject: “Disappointing”

Joni Mitchell’s move into jazz led to a collaboration with bassist and composer Charles Mingus on his final musical pieces, released on the album *Mingus*. She welcomed the chance to work with a musician she had long admired, while accepting that the project meant serving his artistic vision.

Mitchell later said she had imagined a more adventurous band, but Mingus suggested the players and preferred an approach that was less focused on electric music. She called his chosen musicians disappointing and felt they were not at jazz’s vanguard; she nevertheless deferred to Mingus’s judgement as a collaborator and the author of the music.