Just listened to this, and I must say I really enjoyed it. The group includes Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Vinnie Colaiuta and guitarist Lionel Loueke. The featured vocalists include Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corinne Bailey Rae, Joni Mitchell, Luciana Souza and Leonard Cohen.
Each singer does a Joni Mitchell tune and the group does four instrumental tunes (Sweet Bird, Both Sides Now, Solitude and Nefertiti). Now I'm afraid I didn't get the version with the bonus tracks (I forgot about the extras until after the fact), so I'll leave it to someone else to comment on those. It's a drag that some versions of the CD don't have that material.
There is a decidedly mellow mood to the recording, and Wayne does his thing as only Wayne can do- little murmurs behind the vocals, etc. I must say one of the biggest surprises is how great Tina Turner sounds on Edith and the Kingpin! I wasn't sure how the singers were going to do on Joni's tunes, but I thought they all sounded very good. Yes, even Norah!
I hadn't heard of the guitarist, but he adds a lot to the music. Vinnie sounds very good too- he plays a lot of Tony-isms on Nefertiti. The interaction of the group and the unhurried vibe of the whole thing really creates an effective mood. Great band.
For me, Wayne gets the MVP. No one can do what he does. One of a kind.
I'll be interested to hear what others think of this. I was a little skeptical going in (I'm not always a fan of the "singer buffet"), but I was very pleasantly surprised!