May 2: 'Shadows and Light'

This album is definitely in the top five best live albums ever recorded.

It captures the band that toured with Joni Mitchell in 1979.

For the album, Mitchell was backed by a band of acclaimed jazz and fusion musicians consisting of guitarist Pat Metheny, bassist Jaco Pastorius, drummer Don Alias, keyboardist Lyle Mays, and saxophonist Michael Brecker.

The vocal group 'The Persuasions' also appear on several tracks.

After an introduction with a wash of keyboards from Lyle Mays and an extract from the film 'Rebel without a Cause', the album opens with "In France they kiss on Main St." which is driven by Jaco Pastorius' excellent bass line, with interjections from Pat Metheny... fusion... "Coyote" is excellent. Pat also has his own solo following the track 'Amelia'.

Copies can be quite expensive to obtain.

An excellent contemporary review here.

A live video here is worth watching...