“The UK’s best and most convincing take on Joni Mitchell” ~ The Guardian
HEJIRA is a formidable, highly successful 7-piece touring band, set up in 2023 to celebrate the ‘greatest songs’ of Joni Mitchell. In particular, the band performs bandleader Pete Oxley’s arrangements of the masterpiece works that Mitchell recorded from ‘Court & Spark’ to ‘Wild Things Run Fast’; expect to hear such classics as ‘Amelia’, ‘Help Me’, ‘Hejira’, ‘Song For Sharon’, ‘Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow’, ‘Free Man In Paris’, ‘Coyote’ ‘Hissing of Summer Lawns’ etc..
The band has produced 10 high-quality videos for Youtube, amassing many more than 1,500,000 views and garnering thousands of glowing comments.
They have, in their short history, played more than 140 shows in the UK and Ireland, including headline features at The EFG London Jazz Festival; Musicport World-Music Festival; Brecon Jazz Festival; Mosely Folk Festival; Lincoln Jazz Festival; Scarborough Jazz Festival; Oxford Festival of the Arts; Salisbury International Arts Festival; Buxton International Festival.
They have just embarked on their first tour of the USA., the anchor shows being a headline fixture at the 40th Syracuse Jazz Festival (NY) and a show at the world-famous Iridium club in NYC. They performed 9 concerts in the north-east across 5 states, between the 7th and 17th July, 2026. Founder and director of the Syracuse Jazz Festival, Frank Malfitano, wrote of the band, following their show:
“Hejira is an extraordinary ensemble of jazz virtuosos hailing from the UK, and without hesitation one of the finest groups we’ve ever presented in our festival’s 40-year history. Their musical homage to Joni Mitchell is stunningly beautiful and a wonderfully-executed project for the ages that magically recreates the artistry and excellence one of the finest groups in the history of American jazz. While the group displays enormous respect for the collective work of Joni, Jaco, Michael, Lyle, Pat and Don, Hejira brings their own unique talents to Joni’s unparalleled compositions and in my estimation they go the Shadows & Light band one better. In reflecting back on their incredible performance at Jazz Fest this past weekend, it has been such an incredible honor to have them on the Syracuse International Jazz Fest stage. Our only hope is that we haven’t seen the last of them and that they’ll return soon.”