By Lindsay Planer in the months prior to the passing of legendary jazz bassist Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell had been personally summoned by the bop pioneer to collaborate on a musical version of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets. The project would entail Mitchell to condense the text for Mingus to score instrumentally. He planned on utilizing a full orchestra, as well as the more traditional guitar and bass. They would accompany Mitchell's vocals and the narration of selected portions of the text. After a few weeks of consideration, Mitchell's reaction was that "[she]'d rather condense the bible." Mingus then bestowed Mitchell with six melodies -- "Joni I" through "Joni VI" -- penned specifically for her. Mitchell spent a few weeks with Mingus -- who was totally immobilized from amyotropic lateral sclerosis (aka, Lou Gehrig's Disease) -- during the spring of 1978. Their partnership advanced the half-dozen tunes.