Joni Mitchell to release unique performance recorded by Jimi Hendrix

Joni Mitchell's next boxed set, Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971), will feature a recording of a performance captured by legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix.

On March 19th, 1968, Jimi Hendrix finished his own show and decided to walk the few blocks to the Le Hibou Coffee House in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to watch Mitchell perform.

He noted his plans in his diary, writing “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.”

He ended up recording 22 tracks from both sets Mitchell performed that night. The tape, stolen a few days after the performance and thought to be lost, recently resurfaced and was returned to Mitchell.

Mitchell reflected to filmmaker/journalist Cameron Crowe on how Hendrix ended up recording the performance.

“They came and told me, ‘Jimi Hendrix is here, and he’s at the front door.’ I went to meet him,” she said. “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.”

The five CD set also features Mitchell's Carnegie Hall debut in 1969, a London 1970 show performance originally broadcasted by the BBC, and alternative arrangements of 'Ladies of the Canyon' and 'Blue,' among others.

Listen to 'The Dawntreader' from the Hendrix set below: