"Blue" – Joni Mitchell

You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians

Peter Martin

Musicians React, Video Podcast, Tutorials, Album, Vocal Stems, Song Breakdown, Album Breakdown, Jazz Musicians React, Song Stems, Music, Musical Life, Reaction, Live Music, Fresh Spin Fridays, Peter Martin, Isolated Stems, Jazz, 194861, Album Analysis, Adam Maness, Kid A Harmony Analysis, Music Commentary, Jazz Tutorials, Music Theory, Jazz Lessons, Track-by-track, Album Deep Dive, Best New Jazz, Chords, Jazz Courses, Music Analysis, Music Advice, Jazz Education, Music Education

4.9 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Joni Mitchell’s Blue, a folk masterpiece, has inspired jazz musicians since its release in 1971. Is it because she sings like a horn player? Her improvisational melodies? Her unconventional chord structures? Her confessional songwriting?

We dive into every song on Blue, breaking down her favorite chords and her vocal phrasing to understand what makes this album great. You’ll never hear this record the same way again.

Watch to the end to see the Open Studio band’s extended interpretation of our favorite song off this record: “River.”

You'll Hear It has been nominated for a Listener's Choice award for Best Music Podcast at the Signal Awards. Vote for us here: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2025/shows/genre/music

Get our newsletter for bonus stories that didn't make the pod:
https://youllhearit.com/newsletter

Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs:
https://osjazz.link/yhi

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey Adam.
0:05.0	What's up, Peter?
0:06.0	Today we're covering Joni Mitchell's classic record, Blue.
0:10.0	Nice.
0:11.0	Or as the French say, bleu.
0:12.0	Do they?
0:13.0	Yes, they do.
0:14.0	So what I was thinking is we could play actually my favorite song,
0:18.0	and I'm hoping just kind of the vibe that I'm setting up will be evocative.
0:23.8	What does this sound like to you?
0:24.9	Maybe this will clue you into what I'm playing.
0:26.5	No, no, it's giving me like
0:27.6	water.
0:29.4	Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
0:30.4	Yeah, go with that.
0:31.7	Flowing water.
0:33.3	Like out in nature.
0:36.2	Fawcett?
0:37.1	No, no, no, no, outside.
0:39.8	Creek?
0:40.7	Close, like the Mississippi.
0:42.7	Delta.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Peter Martin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Peter Martin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.