The Night Beat—Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” at 50, the Jazz Covers Share As anyone who was alive in 1971 knows (and has probably told those who weren’t yet born on too many occasions), 1971 was a year unlike any other in the annals of music. There was great music to be found anywhere and everywhere, regardless of the genre. If the early part of the 21st Century can lay claim to the term “Peak TV” due to the quality of what’s available on the small screen, 1971 could be described as the year of “Peak Music”. B.B. King followed up his hit single “The Thrill is Gone” with the LP “Live at the Cook County Jail.” Jazz/Fusion became a thing with the release of debut albums from The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report. Freddie Hubbard’s “Straight Life” and Herbie Mann’s “Push Push” proved there was a market for slightly more “commercial” and slicker sounding jazz. For the classical audience, Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” was greeted with much critical acclaim. And Isaac Hayes changed the sound of movie soundtracks forever with his score for “Shaft”.