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River: The Joni Letters

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River: The Joni Letters is the 2008 Grammy-winning album by Herbie Hancock. His 47th album, it was released on September 25, 2007 by Verve Records. The tribute album is an homage to Joni Mitchell, a longtime associate and friend of Hancock. Both Hancock and saxophonist Wayne Shorter previously collaborated with Mitchell on the 1979 jazz album, Mingus.

Guest vocalists on River include Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Tina Turner, Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae and Luciana Souza.

The album peaked at #5 on The Billboard 200 after enjoying a huge post-Grammy sales boost, at #61 in Switzerland, #70 in France and #83 in the Netherlands.

Grammy awards

On February 10, 2008, the album won the Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album at the 50th annual Grammy Awards, surprising the music world. It faced competition from Kanye West, Foo Fighters, Amy Winehouse, and Vince Gill. River was the first jazz album to win best album in 43 years; the last was awarded in 1965 for Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz and João Gilberto. The track, "Both Sides Now", was also nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental.

Tracks

  1. "Court and Spark" - (with Norah Jones)
  2. "Edith and the Kingpin" - (with Tina Turner)
  3. "Both Sides Now"
  4. "River" - (with Corinne Bailey Rae)
  5. "Sweet Bird"
  6. "The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)" - (with Joni Mitchell)
  7. "Solitude" (Ellington)
  8. "Amelia" - (with Luciana Souza)
  9. "Nefertiti" (Shorter)
  10. "The Jungle Line" - (with Leonard Cohen)

Bonus tracks

The Amazon.com exclusive version of the album features two bonus tracks:
  1. "A Case of You" – 7:36
  2. "All I Want" – 4:15

    • with Sonya Kitchell

The iTunes Store digital version features two bonus tracks:
  1. "Harlem in Havana"
  2. "I Had a King"

Personnel

References



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Last updated on Thursday March 06, 2008 at 03:05:19 PST (GMT -0800)
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