By Web Behrens
People love lists because they love to argue about who belongs on them. But here’s an assertion that shouldn’t be in dispute: Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Carly Simon belong at the top of any list of 20th-century women singer-songwriters. (Looking for a debate? Ask a few friends which chanteuse they’d choose to complete a Mount Rushmore.)
For anyone unconvinced about the merits of this particular trinity, Ravinia has a specially written holy book: “Clouds in My Coffee: The Trailblazing Music of Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Carly Simon.” This extravagant July 29 concert won’t simply feature straightforward covers of famous songs. Instead, the concert features Broadway singers who’ll impart their fresh takes on beloved folk-pop standards—accompanied not by mere guitar or piano, but by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The songs of Blue, Tapestry, and many more platinum-certified albums have long reverberated in the hearts of (younger) Boomers and Gen Xers, who’ve been humming them for decades. “This is the music I enjoy relaxing to. It’s the soundtrack of my life,” says Ted Sperling, the award-winning orchestrator and conductor who conceived of the concert. “That’s really the inspiration for putting this program together.”
But now fans can hear them in an entirely new way. “They’re not literal versions from the albums, translated verbatim to the stage,” adds Sperling, who’ll conduct the CSO for the concert. “Actually, it’s a bit of a challenge: How do you translate these songs for the orchestra? We have quite a range of ways of interpreting them.”
Expanding pop songs for lush orchestral accompaniment won’t be the only track to new aural delights. To celebrate this triumvirate of astonishingly accomplished women, Sperling has chosen three impressive vocalists: Morgan James, Capathia Jenkins, and Andréa Burns. All have starred on Broadway, have extensive concert experience, and, of course, they share a deep admiration for the trailblazing composer-performers.
“Because we have these three wonderful singers, we’re showcasing them in fun combinations,” Sperling notes. “They’re true artists who have their own interpretive thoughts. We’re doing some songs as trios, although they might’ve been solos originally. And you know, Joni and James [Taylor] sang backup for Carole, and Carole sang with James—so there’s a lot of fun backup vocals to be covered.”
With one foot in the classical world and another in theater, interpretation is one of Sperling’s many talents—as proven by his Tony Award in 2005 for his orchestrations of The Light in the Piazza. (His first full-time job, a few months after graduating from Yale, was playing synthesizer in the orchestra for the groundbreaking 1984 Broadway premiere of Sunday in the Park with George.) Now 61, the Manhattan native learned how to play viola, violin, and piano in his youth, growing up in a household whose radio was tuned to classical music only. He started conducting lessons in 7th grade, and soon enough, he conducted both the glee club and the orchestra in high school.
So when did he fall in love with the pop stylings of Joni, Carole, and Carly? “I was a kid at the right time,” he says. “I would’ve been a young teenager when they were at their absolute hottest moment in the ’70s.” He couldn’t absorb their songs at home, but carpools to school were another story: “I listened to pop music in the car, when I was with other kids and other drivers, on the way to school and back.” That’s how he discovered many big voices of that era, including The Carpenters, Cher, and Helen Reddy.
Asked if he has a go-to favorite song or album by each of the three featured composers, Sperling has immediate answers. “ ‘You’re So Vain’—the title just grabs you, doesn’t it? You feel like Carly’s singing to you. Something about that lyric immediately provoked me when I first heard it.” (It clearly still captures his imagination, considering that he lifted another of Simon’s lyrics for the concert title: “But you gave away the things you loved / And one of them was me / I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee.”)
For the other two artists, Sperling cites Joni Mitchell’s Blue and Carole King’s Tapestry. (There’s a reason both albums were runaway hits!) The latter is especially present in Sperling’s life: “My husband and one of our daughters are both learning to play their way through that album on piano,” he reveals. “Each week, they tackle a different tune. Basically, I get a little recital of Tapestry almost every day.”
Parenting 12-year-old twin daughters has certainly expanded Sperling’s appreciation and esteem for the concert’s honored trio. “These women were forging careers—not just as performers, but as writers as well. That’s really what we’re celebrating here: the songs they wrote,” he says. “They were not content to be housewives, or secondary in any way. They were forging their own paths, and I think that’s reflected in these strong songs.
“As a parent, I want to support my kids in feeling like anything’s possible for them. They don’t need to be bound by stereotypes or rigid expectations. These songs help me feel secure that my girls are also going to have endless opportunities to express themselves and be the full people they want to be.”
Sperling also hopes the event can help further boost the way people think of their music—as timeless classics that have exerted an enormous influence over successive generations of musicians. “I’m very excited to explore this genre of music with the symphony,” he says. “Everybody talks about The Great American Songbook, but it seems to end in the early ’60s. I feel like there’s a second generation, and I’m eager to explore that. I hope this will be the first in a series.
“I’d like to add to my Mount Rushmore and celebrate some other great songwriters,” he continues. “I’d like to set myself a challenge to find the three men who would be the equivalent for me of Carole, Carly, and Joni.”
Who might those guys be? Sperling allows that, while he’s got three names in mind, he needs to fully consider before committing to his choices in public. Still, given his attachment to the three women, it’s no surprise that he’s willing to name one particular troubadour—a man who dated Joni, married Carly, and often collaborated with Carole: “James Taylor would certainly be my go-to person.”
CAPATHIA JENKINS
Please share an early memory you have about these amazing songs.
I remember hearing “You’ve Got a Friend” when I was a kid, probably 6th grade. I loved it immediately. The melody, arrangement, and words all seemed to be in sync in a way that moved me. I loved the sentiment and hopefulness. With “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” Carole spoke for all of us young women, giving us language and license to own our womanhood.
Which of their songs excite you as a vocalist?
I am thrilled to be singing “Nobody Does it Better.” I get to celebrate Carly’s lyrics and storytelling paired with the music of Marvin Hamlisch. I knew and worked with him—I absolutely adore him. This song and arrangement is squarely in my wheelhouse, and I get to soar vocally, which is thrilling.
MORGAN JAMES
Please share an early memory you have about these amazing songs.
I remember playing all of my mom’s records on the record player, and wanting to mimic everything I heard, and reverse engineer it. With her album Clouds, Joni taught me so much about harmony and layering background vocals and creating textures. It remains one of my favorites.
Which of their songs excite you as a vocalist?
I have sung “River” many times, and it’s incredibly challenging and stark, and I love the exposed nature that you feel as a singer when you are inside that melody.
ANDRÉA BURNS
Please share an early memory you have about these amazing songs.
When I had the fresh, absorbent cranium of a 9-year-old, my cool teenage cousin David asked me to learn all of the songs from The Best of Carly Simon album. He loved playing guitar, and he wanted to make his own version of the album he loved so much. David accompanied me as I mimicked Carly’s phrasing and style. The cassette recording we made is long lost, but in preparing for this concert, I discovered that I still know every word to all the songs on that album, even the ones I haven’t listened to since. They’ve been preserved in my brain for decades.
Joni, Carole, and Carly’s songs have resonated in our collective consciousness for decades. How has your appreciation for this trio’s music evolved over the years?
Incredibly, I have loved the music of all three artists since I was very young. Even then, the music was that good. As an adult, understanding the depths of the lyrics was mind-blowing for me. These ladies are poets whose contributions to society, like fine wines, only improve with age.
Native Chicagoan Web Behrens has spent most of his journalism career covering arts and culture. His work has appeared in the pages of the Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, Crain’s Chicago Business, and The Advocate and Chicago magazines.