"My fondest dream would be that my songwriting and performance speak effectively to the past, present, and future of the jazz art form that I love. This task is, after all, the task of any artist: to create a ruthlessly individual vision of the art from the inside out… Something much larger than myself and my effort will determine if I have been successful at my artistic mission." –Patricia Barber

Photo by Andrea Canter

In recent ears, jazz venues have seen their share of talented vocalists presenting a wide range of styles, from the gleaming perfection of Jane Monheit and wide ranging appeal of Diana Krall to the country/folk sincerity of Madeleine Peyroux and Norah Jones, from the heartfelt, Broadway-laced interpretations of Janis Siegel to the smoking blues of Betty Lavette, from the youthful emotion of Lizz Wright to the wrenching originality of Rene Marie. What makes Patricia Barber stand out in this sea of talent is her imaginative, often witty original lyrics, her hauntingly beautiful melodies, and her daring, topsy-turvy renovations of standards and pop covers. And, oh yeah, she is one of the most exciting pianists of 21^st century jazz.

A consistent winner of Downbeat’s “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition,” Barber’s latest release, Live: A Fortnight in France (Blue Note), has garnered the raves that might make that crown obsolete. Noted Time, "Cross Diana Krall with Susan Sontag, and you get Patricia Barber, whose throaty, come-hither vocals and coolly incisive piano are displayed to devastating effect.” But this is hardly sudden, as Barber has been producing some of the most creative music in jazz for over a decade. Three Mondays in May, Barber and her Quartet will be at their “home base,” Chicago’s Green Mill.

A native of suburban Chicago, Barber was genetically predisposed to follow the jazz life; her father, Floyd “Shim” Barber, played sax with Glen Miller.  Studying psychology and classical music at the University of Iowa, she switched to jazz, later moving back to Chicago and literally launching her career in 1984 with a standing engagement (5 nights per week) at the famed Gold Star Sardine Bar. Her compositions as well as her performance chops proved popular, and in 1994, she moved her work to the epicenter of Chicago jazz, the Green Mill, where she still has a regular, and very popular, gig when not on tour. Wrote Chicago Magazine, in voting her "Best Torch Singer" in  1999, “You've got to love a singer who can deliver Paul Anka ("She's a Lady"), Jim Morrison ("Light My Fire"), and e.e. cummings ("Love, Put on Your Faces") in a single set... a songwriter who gets Pierre Boulez, Bill Gates, and Karl Marx into the same smart lyric and still manages to give it a sexy groove."

After recording Split for Floyd Records in 1989, Barber’s major label debut, A Distortion of Love, was released by Antilles in 1992. However, it was Café Blue (Blue Note/Premonition) that became a hit two years later, introducing listeners to her trademark dark and haunting contralto and “hip” intellectual stage presence, this was also the first of several that Barber would produce herself. Following Café Blue, Barber was named "Female Vocalist/Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" (for the first time) in the 1995 Down Beat International Critics Poll. Staying with Blue Note /Premonition, she went on to release Modern Cool (1998), an abbreviated live date, Companion (1999), Night Club (2000), a set of reinterpretations of jazz standards, and then a set of all original material on the highly acclaimed Verse (2002). "Verse is about songwriting," says Barber, "and about trying to create new material within both a narrow and broad construction of what vocal jazz is now. I have been diligent about trying to learn from, absorb, and acknowledge the great American songwriters whose songs have been appropriated as repertoire by the jazz masters… I was hearing the songs in my head had more to do with the guitar than the piano. In a loose way, Verse is a Patricia Barber homage to Joni Mitchell."

In 2003, Barber was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in the category of Music Composition, a rare achievement for a composer working in the general arena of popular songwriting. Barber has used the Fellowship to further explore composition, culminating in a nine-part song cycle that draws inspiration from Greek mythology, Ovid’s Metamorphosis. The first song from that cycle, “Whiteworld,” appears on the new recording and, along with others, has been part of recent live performances around the world. I first heard this one when Barber returned to Iowa City for the 2004 IC Jazz Festival. Outdoors festivals are never the best context for serious listening but Barber nevertheless captivated a crowd of several thousand spread across the campus green—the attention inside some of our jazz clubs should be so rapt.

Patricia Barber’s last release, Live: A Fortnight in France, was recorded over performances in three cities (La Rochelle, Metz, and Paris) and features her current working quartet of Michael Arnopol on bass, Eric Montzka on drums, and Neil Alger on guitar. “This recording is a concert,” says Barber. “What you hear is what we play at the Green Mill on any given night. Regarding her quartet, she said. "We trust each other so much that the improvisation has become quite adventurous. It's so valuable keeping a band intact, like Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau, and Pat Metheny do."

Live has received high praise for Barber’s presentation of five originals and five covers. “Gotcha” is both a witty and devastating poke at personal angst, featuring Barber’s ethereal piano and almost ghostly vocals, as well as a marvelous bubbling bass from Arnopol. The instrumental “Crash” is a careening train of piano trio interplay, marked by Barber’s dynamic single line with a whiff of futuristic boogie woogie. On this track some of her final phrases remind me of Craig Taborn, and that is a high compliment. “Pieces” (first recorded on Verse) is a clever, impassioned lament of lost love, while “White World” –to be included in the Ovid cycle—is a tour de force for guitarist Neil Alger while displaying Barber’s crafty, even harrowingly political lyrics. The standards get anything but standard treatment, from Barber’s haunting vocals and Alger’s softly Brazilian overtones on “Laura” to a dark, sultry take on Lennon-McCartney’s “Norwegian Wood” that is enhanced by a fleet-fingered swirling piano improvisation that is well matched by bass, guitar, and Montzka’s tingling cymbal work. Noted the New York Times, "This is what Patricia Barber has: adventurous piano playing, a low-vibrato alto on perpetual rhythm and timbre alert and smart songs about the way we think and live, not just the way we love…”

Later this year, Barber will release the recorded result of her Guggenheim exploration of Ovid. In the meantime, nothing beats a live performance. Every time she takes the stage, Barber demonstrates her chops as a unique interpreter of songs as well as gifted composer, one who defies classification beyond the generic branding of “jazz musician.” And while it’s easy to define her as a vocalist, don’t be surprised if you find Patricia Barber to be one of the most innovative pianists you’ve heard in years.

“Indeed, in an age when pipsqueak voices and easy-listening sensibilities routinely draw critical praise and commercial success, Barber has emerged as the anti-diva: a singer uninterested in assuming the usual romantic poses, a songwriter unwilling to pen cloyingly sweet love songs, a pianist who actually has something distinctive to say at the keyboard.” –Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

Patricia Barber and her Quartet perform Mondays in May—May 15, 22, and 29--at the Green Mill in Chicago (4802 N. Broadway Ave; 773-878-5552; www.greenmilljazz.com).