The stage of The Theater at Innovation Square in Rochester, NY was strewn with instruments.. A mini orchestra if you will containing: a cello, numerous guitars, keyboards, a bass, a horn section, a woodwind section, a drum kit with a seperate percussion section.. All there to be used in celebration of a singular artist.. Joni Mitchell.. The band that would eventually fill the stage and play said instruments is called "Lauren and the Good Souls", a local Rochester band already making a name for themselves in the Upper New York State/Finger Lakes Region these last few years and since November, 2017 have performed a tribute show to Ms. Mitchell's music in and around her birthday in November. A multi-media event consisting of "The Good Souls" playing along with several guest performers, and a fabulous artist named Katrina Gespar, who was just off stage creating beautiful paintings live for all to see in real time!! A tribute to Joni, the overall artist!

The "Good Souls" are lead by Lauren Faggiano, a music therapist by day and band leader/musical director by night. (all while being a parent of two pre-teens, along with fellow "Good Soul" bassist/husband Ken Shumacher) The concert began with Lauren sitting solo, center stage at the red, Korg, electric piano, where she treated us to an emotional, heartfelt version of the legendary "Both Sides Now" that let the audience know they were in for a night of great music. The thing I enjoy most about Lauren's take on this classic is she is no mimic, Ms. Faggiano's voice is more akin to Diana Krall with it's soulful, velvety tones and her piano playing was stellar throughout the entire evening also, which lead into the next performance, Joni's heartbreaking "River", again, just Lauren, her voice, the piano and the song.. The audience was visibly moved by what's now considered a Holiday standard, and while we were in this state of high emotion, Lauren decided to finish the proverbial TKO with a rousing rendition of Joni's acapella, anti war, anti imperialism, masterpiece from the "Clouds" album, "The Fiddle and the Drum". A brave move that paid off handsomely with several audience members rising to their feet in appreciation after.. Lauren then gave up the stage for our first guest performer of the night, Erin Futterer, whose "A Case Of You" was inventive and quite lovely with it's plays on phrasing and rhythm. Following this beautiful song was a luminous Lu Highsmith, an artist and poet, whose gorgeous spoken word performance of Joni's "Cactus Tree" brought sharp focus to the poetic nature of Joni's anthem to "being free".. After Ms. Highsmith's performance, Lauren came back onstage, this time with special guest, Finger Lakes region's own Brian Ayers, a singer songwriter who gave the audience something to sing about themselves with a countryfied version Joni's campfire classic "The Circle Game" where, in perfect Joni fashion we all sang along with Brian at the end! Next up was a bit of a surprise as it wasn't a song Joni wrote herself, but a song written about her by her former beau James Taylor, the romantic ballad "You Can Close Your Eyes" sung as a duet by Lauren and Brian to great success.. Joining Lauren and Brian for the next song, "You Turn Me on, I'm A Radio" from Joni's "For the Roses" album, were the rest of the "Good Souls" consisting of: Nelson Rivera on tenor sax, soprano sax and percussion(A literal one man band who shone brightly several times over the course of the evening) , Cindy Tag on (gorgeous)flute, clarinet, alto sax, soprano sax (Ms. Tag, along with Lauren, expertly and beautifully charted these woodwind and horn sections as well) .. Joe Cappadonia on fugelhorn and trumpet(nailed a few great solos over the night), Corey Owens on drums and vocals, Sungmin Shin on lead guitar( I saw him play several throughout the night to great affect) Ken Schumacher on bass, Kelly Izzo Shapiro on guitar and vocals with Amanda Dimino rounding it out on keys, vocals and cello(yes, you read right.. such a beautiful touch to many songs over the course of the night) Next special guest to join, Lauren and the Good Souls on stage is Sue Tierney, whose name you might recognize if you have used Joni's official Website's Guitar Tab section, which for decades has been carefully curated by Ms. Tierney, who walloped the crowd with her version of Joni's cautionary "Sex Kills" from the criminally underrated "Turbulent Indigo" album. A deeper cut than most would expect from a run of the mill Joni tribute but as you can probably tell from what I have already described, this night was anything but run of the mill..It was a Joni tribute for and by Joni fans.. Following Sue, Lauren stepped to the front and rocked us all with a spirited rendition of "Black Crow" from Joni's masterpiece "Hejira" album. Following this we were treated to a trio of songs from the "Court and Spark" album, a faithful yet playful rendition of "Free Man in Paris" which was met with several woops and vocal cheers from the near capacity orchestra section. Speaking of orchestras, the next song up was "Down To You" which featured the beautiful, stellar horn section.. What a pleasure for the ears to hear this live, I am certain I am not the only one who was filled with goosebumps when those beautiful horns and woodwinds blended together during the interlude section.. Rounding out this C&S suite was a rollicking version of 'Raised on Robbery" which left the crowd on it's feet and excited for more as this ended the first set..

Following intermission, Lauren returned to the stage as she did at the beginning, solo, at her piano, and shyly and cautiously told us that she had learned this next song for the show and was nervous about playing it for us all.. Cut to her holding us all in the palm of her hand as she gave a beautiful, stirring portrait in music to Joni's "Blue".. As if that moment wasn't emotional enough Lauren was joined by fellow Good Soul, virtuoso guitarist Sungmin Shin(On a gorgeous 12 string!) who apparently learned the next song at the request of Lauren and we are all the better for it as their performance of "The Silky Veils of Ardor"(I told you this was a Joni tribute for and by true fans) was a poignant showstopper! Next to join this tribute to Joni Mitchell and her music was Ross Falzone a singer songwriter who chose another song written about Joni, this time by Graham Nash, the lovely ode to domesticity "Our House".. Accompanying Mr. Falzone on the French Horn was Erin Futterer which added a loveliness to the already beautiful song.(This duet featured a great "show must go on" moment where the stand holding the sheet music decided to collapse mid song, Mr. Falzone improvised wonderfully(with the help of Ms. Futterer) and it gave the night a bit of comic relief) Next up was artist Kelly Izzo Shapiro, whose version of "Trouble Child" was not only a crowd pleaser but showed her to be a wonderful interpreter of Joni's music, Following that Court and Spark classic the crowd was treated to another spoken word selection from Poet Lu Highsmith, this time taking us to 1985 and Joni's album "Dog Eat Dog"(Lu learned this song at the request of Lauren, we were told) where Ms. Highsmith mesmerized the crowd with her pitch perfect delivery of Joni's timely, prophetic, powerful, lyrics to the title track that speak of "Holy hope in the hands of Snakebite evangelists and racketeers. And big wig financiers"(sound familiar?) Next up, holding what I learned after the show was a custom acoustic guitar was guest performer Dawn Thomson whose version of "All I Want" left us wanting more and we got it with Dawn, along with Lauren and The Good Souls' fabulous version of "The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines" from the "Mingus" album which had the crowd bopping in their seats! Not an easy song to sing and Ms. Thomson handled it perfectly.. Next up Lauren and the Good Souls took on the generational anthem "Woodstock" in a way that really made it their own, the horn section particularly shone here as did the backing vocalists featuring the aforementioned Ms. Shapiro and Cellist and fellow "Good Soul" Amanda Dimino, joining Lauren to make a truly gorgeous sound. Speaking of horns and woodwinds, the next song, (a personal favorite of mine and many others in the audience who were visibly moved) "Amelia" from 1976's, "Hejira" was given an added beauty with the addition of the horns and woodwinds.. Rejoining the Good Souls on stage, Kelly Izzo Shapiro who treated the audience to a duo of songs beginning with "Coyote" which Ms. Izzo Shapiro brilliantly acted as much as she sang... Following the opener from "Hejira" we had a deep cut from "Ladies of the Canyon" the possible pean to Leonard Cohen, "Rainy Night House" which really showcased how tight a band the Good Souls are.. Closer to the "Miles of Aisles" version than anything, but given an update that made it sound fresh and exciting.. A first year member of the Good Souls, drummer Corey Owens took the mic next for a beautiful duet with Lauren on Joni's modern day anthem "Shine".. When it comes to this performance, I believe the term "they took us to church" is in full order. It was a spiritual experience based on Joni's lyrics, Mr. Owens' gorgeous, soaring vocals, the band's careful take on the song itself, all under the leadership of Lauren on piano.. It was a seminal moment in a night brimming with them! Which leads me to what I truly believe was one of the greatest Joni Mitchell experiences I have had without Joni actually being there.. A ten minute version of "Harry's House/Centerpiece" that frankly could have gone on twice as long.. Lead by a triumphantly returning Sue Tierney, who exuded confidence and grace,(and with her hand crafted beret gave shades of Ms. Mitchell herself) The Good Souls took this "Hissing of Summer Lawns" Opus to new places, featuring solos from each member of the band.. Sadly, like all good things the night had to come to an end and what better way then for everyone involved in the show to rejoin Lauren and The Good Souls on stage for a fun version of "Big Yellow Taxi" that had the audience on their feet and singing along..

The night was a fitting tribute to Joni Mitchell, a legendary artist who has shown us all, especially these last few years that anything is possible and throughout the years has inspired and enlightened us all with her music..Here's to Joni and to musicians like Lauren and the Good Souls who help keep her music alive with truly wonderful tribute shows like this! See you next year, in Rochester!