I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Hejira in Helmsley on Saturday. It was a stunningly good show by a hugely talented band.
Hejira take their name from the 1976 album by Joni Mitchell. The album marked a seismic shift in Joni Mitchell’s music and is rightly regarded as a classic. Hejira (the band) play music from that Joni Mitchell era and the subsequent tour that followed the album’s release.
Many people refer to this as the start of the Joni Jazz era and whilst she was clearly jazz influenced and brought in the cream of the LA jazz scene to help her record and tour, the reality is that it took musicians of that calibre to actually play the music she was creating. If you haven’t listened to Hejira by Joni Mitchell then seek it out or click the Spotify link at the foot of this article. Keep playing it until it seeps into your heart and soul and you’ll live with it for the rest of your life.
Hejira (the band) are led by Pete Oxley and are all exceptional musicians. They clearly love the music they are recreating. They don’t slavishly follow every nuance of Joni’s album, there’s a good deal of intelligent interpretation going on and their performance really benefits from it.
Whether, like me, you adore Joni Mitchell’s music or whether you just like a great night out listening to great musicians playing great music I can really recommend Hejira. I travelled from North Wales to North Yorkshire to see them and it was worth every mile.