When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century. Uncompromising and iconoclastic, Mitchell confounded expectations at every turn; restlessly innovative, her music evolved from deeply personal folk stylings into pop, jazz, avant-garde, and even world music, presaging the multicultural experimentation of the 1980s and 1990s by over a decade. Fiercely independent, her work steadfastly resisted the whims of both mainstream audiences and the male-dominated recording industry. While Mitchell’s records have never sold in the same numbers enjoyed by contemporaries like Carole King, Janis Joplin, or Aretha Franklin, none experimented so recklessly with their artistic identities or so bravely explored territory outside of the accepted confines of pop music, resulting in a creative legacy which paved the way for countless performers. 1974’s classic Court and Spark was her most commercially successful outing. A sparkling, jazz-accented set, it reached the number two spot on the U.S. album charts and launched three hit singles. In 2002, Mitchell resurfaced with the double-disc release, Travelogue. Mitchell delivered Shine in 2007. More recently, she released Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting to Be Danced, a compilation, in 2014. This legend continues to play shows around the world.
