‘A door opener for me’ is how vocalist Imogen Ryall describes Mingus, the unforeseen collaboration between Joni Mitchell and Charles Mingus released in June 1979, just five months after Mingus’ untimely death. One of her most important artistic touchstones, you get the sense that Ryall has completely immersed herself in the Mingus sound-world, such that the entire album – lyrics, melodies, textures – has been absorbed into the fine print of her consciousness.

Bookended by a 37-second instrumental blast of ‘Boogie Stop Shuffle’ (from the brilliant Mingus Ah Um) and the beautiful tribute to tenor saxist Lester Young, ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ – and including all of the other songs from Mingus albeit with slightly different interludes – the result is a remarkable paean to one of the most singular albums in Mitchell’s oeuvre.

Together with her magnificent band, Ryall delivers captivating versions of the heartrending ‘Chair in the Sky’ (“I'm waiting for the keeper to release me”) and 'The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines', which shines a spotlight on her exceptional time feel. You might have thought it impossible to cover ‘The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey’, being so heavily coloured by Mitchell’s rented Martin D-18 acoustic guitar which “buzzed like a rattlesnake” as she recalled in the booklet notes for Love Has Many Faces, but the version heard here announces itself as one of the great Mitchell covers. Ryall’s smart new lyrics for ‘Self-Portrait in Three Colors’, similarly excerpted from Mingus Ah Um, provides a further unexpected treat.