JONI MITCHELL IN JERUSALEM

Distributed by l'Autre Distribution

"There are trendy tributes, and then there are declarations of love. Joni Mitchell in Jerusalem is one of those. A deferential, irreverent tribute to the brooding Canadian singer, Haim Isaacs' album revisits 11 tracks, urgently placing them on the worktable. Joni Mitchell in Jerusalem is one of those artisanal records, where one can sit back and listen to dreams. It's a soundtrack, ferociously intimate, and paradoxically universal. "

Pointbreak.fr / Groove à Plaisirs / by Guillaume Malvoisin

"Ever since he was a teenager, Haim Isaacs has been passionately in love with the music of Joni Mitchell. He even became possessed by it, to the point of becoming a sort of “singing madman”, setting off from his native New York to spread the good word mitchellian, head to the wind, on the roads of the Middle East. Original and successful, the album Joni Mitchell in Jerusalem makes you want to listen to this inspired shaman in a place with a more than appropriate name... the Hermitage."

Telerama / by Louis-Julien Nicolaou

"In the long series of tributes, here's a truly original album that caught our attention, whether or not you're a connoisseur of Joni Mitchell’s work. This creative album never sounds like a rehash, and immerses us in an almost mystical sensation, that of attending an eminently spiritual concert. The covers are nuanced, playful and melancholy, depending on the lyrics, which are more or less introspective; sonic landscapes that are never arid take shape and unfold before our eyes, like Joni's paintings.
A warm, deep, gravelly voice that also has a beautiful ambitus, a perfect elocution where each of Joni's words resonates, sculpted as in the fascinating Little Green. If Haim Isaacs and his equally inspired musicians invite us to a highly recommendable experience, we may be tempted to go back to the source. A great moment guaranteed."

Les Dernières Nouvelles du Jazz / by Sophie Chambon

"For the past four years, Haim Isaacs has been celebrating the work of his youthful passion, Joni Mitchell. Surrounded by five musicians, he fine-tuned this astonishing album in the studio, creating an acoustic universe in which his exceptional voice blends with polyphonic harmonies, cello, accordion, percussion and piano to make ten songs by the folk icon his own."

Rock and folk

"Flying with Steam" Festival - Olivet

(suburb of Orléans)

Saturday, October 18, 2025 - 8:30 p.m.

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I was fifteen when I first heard Joni Mitchell’s music in my upstairs neighbor’s flat in Jerusalem. I’m sixty-four now, living in Paris, and the songs still elude me, they still slip through my fingers.


Joni Mitchell in Jerusalem has been brewing for over 20 years. Then one morning it’s now... I must do it right now. Throughout France, massive strikes, followed by Covid. I cloistered myself in a studio for three months, experimenting with arrangements and soundscapes.


I had a strong wish to share stories on how, in the 70’s, Joni’s music penetrated my heart in the Middle East. Speaking in the third person, high schooler H wanders through the streets of Jerusalem, Jericho and Bethlehem, haunted by Joni. She follows him down to the Sinai desert where H, now a medic in the tank corps, sees her dancing in the dunes.
Our jazz quartet stays true to Joni’s melodic lines and harmonies while creating fresh instrumental soundscapes. Three-voice harmonies abound.

We are currently performing throughout France and hope to share the music with other European countries.

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Voice

A red swing in a back yard... a kid singing his lungs out... up in the clouds with Mary Poppins... twirling atop the Austrian Alps with Maria Von Trappe. In New York, my family boards a boat, furniture and all, and lands in Israel. All I can say in Hebrew is: Hello... my name is Haim... how are you? That doesn’t go far in 7th grade. I daydream my way through History, Bible, Geometry, Chemistry. Language as abstract sound. Then Jerusalem Experimental High School: hippie territory: the process is what matters, not the result. Then the army: just get there! we don’t give a fuck how! Then a one-way ticket to San Francisco: harmony, counterpoint, piano, voice. Digging under the skins and into the mouths of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Ella Fitzgerald. Then the Iron Curtain: Hungary, I want to move there, but stop off in Jerusalem and find Barry and the Roy Hart Theater passing through. Kaya, Akhmatova. Crazy wild voice work: screaming, shouting, soprano, basso, industrial squeaks. I follow their trail to the south of France and spend 4 years in a French kibbutz. Great. Terrific. Then Paris; teaching voice, singing, recording Jewish songs in Poland (Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Krochmalna Street gutted and pockmarked). Then 17 years of composition: putting together groups, making records. Then improvising: voice, buto, clowning, tchatch. We’re getting closer to now: NazzazzaN Quartet. Wild skydivers doing concerts in swimming pools and circus tents. And now: Joni Mitchell: queen of queens. My brother says I was born the day I first heard her. He’s usually right.

Piano

Originally a percussionist, Frédéric moved on to piano at the National Conservatory of Bourgoin-Jallieu, followed by the Geneva Conservatory of Music.
He developed a taste for improvisation and contemporary dance: Recital for piano, two dancers and wind instruments (Cie Pas T'à Trac).
He composes for theatre and contemporary art: The two doors (Cie de la Bulle), Aka... Kraka, the Game of Protocol (Théâtre du tiroir), Érosion Sur Le Vif, improvised performance with the visual artist Qiang Ma.
Frédéric is deeply engaged with living composers: Three Melodies with Texts by Fabrice Villard (Martin Moulin); Urlicht, Feer am Klavier and Verstecklungen by François Rossé.
The meeting with these two composers has lead him to develop his own work: Puntiti et le Monstre des Grottes, a musical tale, published by Aedam Musicae; Ça Cheuyait des Chants, a performance for choir and chamber orchestra based on Mayenne songs, commissioned by the Mayenne department; En Quadrature, a piece for four pianos; C dans C, a chamber opera based on Camille Claudel.

Tuba, percussions, backup vocals

As a young boy, Jules delved into both music and acrobatics. He immediately knew that these
two passions would be his life. Since graduating from the National Superior Conservatory of Paris as a trombonist, Jules performs freelance in orchestras throughout France.

As an acrobat and clown, he has trained in France and China and performs with multiple
companies mixing music and circus.

Double bass, trumpet, backup vocals

Yann-Lou Bertrand studied music at the CRR de Paris, where he earned his DEM (Diploma of Music and Music Studies) in Jazz. He attended masterclasses with Pierre Bertrand, Jean-Philippe Viret, Karim Ziad, André Minvielle, Marie-Christine Dacqui, and Emil Spanyi.

With the group Monkuti, led by Mario Orsinet, he toured South America, New Orleans, Portugal, Benin, and Tunisia. He released the album "Monkuti Vilé" in 2018.

Still connected to jazz, Yann Lou recorded "Garner on My Mind" with Jean-Baptiste Franc and Mourad Benhamou in 2020.

He currently collaborates on stage and in the studio with singer Luna Silva, as well as Oriane Lacaille and Haim Isaacs

Electronic accordion, backup vocals

Accordionist and pianist since childhood (Bill Evans Piano Academy), Matthieu is also a clown and actor (Ecole Samovar).

He combines these talents in multiple projects: Le Rire Médecin, the Boca Abierta Company, the Les Gens Qui Contes Company, the Les Racines du Vent Company, and Haim Isaacs (Quartet Nazzazzan and Joni Mitchell in Jerusalem).

cello, oud, backup vocals

Mauro is a multi-instrumentalist: cello, guitar, oud, period instruments (lutes, fiddles), percussion (frame drums, stick drums), and computer music.

He combines early and contemporary music, written music with improvisation. As a composer, Mauro collaborates with circus, theater, and dance.

His multiple projects have taken him from Turin to Berlin and now to Paris.

Photos Stéphane Plumas

Studio de l'Ermitage, March 7, 2025

Festival Ateliers Jazz de Meslay-Grez (53, May 7, 2024
Opening act for guitarist Mike Stern

Paris, Péniche Anako, November 21, 2023

Allex, Folies Bérangères, November 2, 2023

Antraigues-sur-Volane, November 1, 2023

Saint-Étienne en Quint, October 31, 2023

Paris, la Bellevilloise, June 17, 2023

Laval, June 3, 4, 2023

Carrière sur Seine, 14 may 14, 2023

Point de fuite, Bœurs-en-Othe, January 28, 2023

Conservatoire des Coëvrons, Évron, January 20, 2023

Roy Hart Théâtre, Les Cévennes August 19, 2022

Théâtre Thénardier, Montreuil February 6, 2022

La Pomme d'Eve, Paris October 4, 11, 18 ;  November 8, 15, 29 ; December 6, 13  2021

L'Hyper Festival de la Ville de Paris August 26, 28 et 29. Paris 75014

Festival Annecy Paysage July 14, 15