Hejira - Celebrating Joni Mitchell

‘Hejira’ is a 7-piece band set up to celebrate and honour the masterpiece works of Joni Mitchell, mostly from the late ‘70s. Having released the albums ‘The Hissing of Summer Lawns’, ‘Hejira’, ‘Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter’ and ‘Mingus’ (regarded as her ‘jazz period’), Joni then toured briefly with a band formed from the crème de la crème of contemporaneous jazz musicians (Metheny, Mays, Brecker, Pastorius and Alias). The tour was recorded, producing the outstanding live album, ‘Shadows And Light’; it is from this album that the band Hejira is drawing the body of its repertoire. Comprising highly experienced jazz musicians, this band is fronted by the brilliant Hattie Whitehead who not only has - in her own way - assimilated the poise, power and beauty of Joni’s vocals, but also plays guitar with Joni’s stylistic mannerisms. Expect an evening of the ‘great’ songs from Mitchell’s back catalogue!

Jana Varga is a Slovak-born London-based singer songwriter. Her well crafted songs are at home in the broad Americana genre but their roots run much deeper. Jana’s natural musicianship is founded in her classical music training, folk influences such as Janis Ian and James Taylor, jazz and fusion. Her sense of harmony and melody comes from building on tradition while constantly looking for surprise and disrupting musical expectations. Having to ‘settle’ down in several countries throughout her life, her lyrics often reflect struggles and challenges when starting from zero in a new environment, creating new bonds and finding a community to belong to.

One of the tastiest tenor players on the UK scene, Ollie's credits run a whole smorgasbord of styles, including stints with Jamie Cullum, Amy Winehouse, Sax Appeal, Stornaway and current hipsters, The Hackney Colliery Band! A player with a distinctive muscular, yet thoroughly soulful sound.