In March of 1968, Joni Mitchell performed a two-set show at Ottawa's Le Hibou Coffee House with very special guest, Jimi Hendrix in the audience. A newly unearthed recording of the performance, made by the legendary guitarist, is now set to be released as part of the upcoming Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971). Pre-order, here.
Mitchell’s debut album, Song to a Seagull, had been released just days before the concert and clearly, Hendrix was a fan, describing her in his diary as a “fantastic girl with heaven words.” Following his own performance at the nearby Capitol Theater earlier that day, Hendrix nabbed himself a front-row seat at the singer-songwriter’s coffee house performance, his reel-to-reel recorder in hand. Noting in his diary:
“Talked with Joni Mitchell on the phone. I think I’ll record her tonight with my excellent tape recorder (knock on wood) ... hmmm ... can’t find any wood ... everything’s plastic.”
Not long after the show, Hendrix's tapes were stolen and thought to be lost forever. But a recent donation to the Library and Archives of Canada from a private collection saw the tapes returned to Mitchell more than five decades after being recorded.
Now, we are lucky enough to hear the Hendrix recorded set for the very first time – listen to The Dawntreader below!
Joni Mitchell | The Dawntreader [Live at Cafe Le Hibou, Ottawa, 3/19/1968]
In the liner notes for Archives Vol. 2, written by Cameron Crowe, Mitchell recalls the evening, saying: “They came and told me, ‘Jimi Hendrix is here, and he’s at the front door.' I went to meet him. He had a large box. He said to me, ‘My name is Jimi Hendrix. I'm on the same label as you. Reprise Records.’ We were both signed about the same time. He said, ‘I'd like to record your show. Do you mind?’ I said, ‘No, not at all.’ There was a large reel-to-reel tape recorder in the box.”
“The stage was only about a foot off the ground," Mitchell continued. "He knelt at the edge of the stage, with a microphone, at my feet. All during the show, he kept twisting knobs. He was engineering it. I don't know what he was controlling, volume? He was watching the needles or something, messing with knobs. He beautifully recorded this tape. Of course, I played part of the show to him. He was right below me.”
Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) is due out on October 29th. Along with the Hendrix-recorded track above, the extensive release and will include a live album from Carnegie Hall in 1969, a recording of her The Dick Cavett Show appearance in 1969, two BBC sessions from 1970 and more. See the full tracklisting and pre-order Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971), here.
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