Dean Friedman: My Six Best Albums – Joni Mitchell, West Side Story and more…

JONI MITCHELL – Blue (Reprise): There’s a starkness to Blue that is stunning. It’s a folk/jazz fusion and what she was doing lyrically was so confessional it made a deep impression on me.

She conjured up vivid images you couldn’t shake from your mind. It’s something I aspired to.

SIMON & GARFUNKEL – Bridge Over Troubled Water (Sony): My other big inspiration was Paul Simon.

When eight-track cassette players first came out my siblings and I signed up for a subscription deal and this was one album we got.

I used to listen over and over when I got back from summer work at an amusement park, with the speakers either side of my head.

WEST SIDE STORY – Original Film Soundtrack (Hallmark): An influential album incorporating elements of jazz, classical and pop. I grew up with this in the house.

My mum was a singer and there was always some Broadway show tune on the piano. I can find hints of that music in things I write today.

RANDY NEWMAN – Good Old Boys (Rhino): Newman is a songwriter who tells stories about unusual events and characters. They’re touching, funny and have profound meaning.

It took courage to touch on so many taboo subjects. It deals with the culture of the South and I admire that bravery. It is also a musical collage of a time and place that is beautifully done. 

WEATHER REPORT – Heavy Weather (Columbia/Legacy): I always had an affinity for jazz fusion and this band defined the whole idiom.

Their improvisation has a freneticism and, despite being a guy who can’t dance, I cannot sit still listening to them.

ANITA BAKER – Giving You The Best That I Got (Elektra): Pop-jazz fusion souped up by arrangements that made it really contemporary.

It has a sublime groove that created a musical bed for her sultry romantic songs. It may be simple but it’s from the heart.

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