Well, this would have been a good room to be in.
It was March of 1968 when Joni Mitchell performed at a coffeehouse in Canada, with someone extra-special in the audience: Jimi Hendrix.
The guitar great had called Mitchell earlier that day with a request-- could he record the show?
As Mitchell told Cameron Crowe for the liner notes for Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971):
“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. He knelt at 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) arrives October 29th and will also include a live album from Carnegie Hall in 1969, a recording of her 1969 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show, two 1970 BBC sessions, and more.
Here's one of those Joni Mitchell songs Jimi Hendrix recorded that night, "The Dawntreader"...
