Patricia Barber – Modern Cool (1998/2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Patricia Barber – Modern Cool (1998/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:08:23 minutes | 781 MB | Genre: Vocal Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Impex Records

The pianist and vocalist Patricia Barber is one of the most famous greats of modern jazz today. With this album, she inspired not only fans of jazz singing, but also followers of more earthy jazz. Her voice is intoxicating and performs feats that you would not have expected on an album with such catchy tracks. Patricia Baber moves from classical poems, for example by E.E. Cummings, to exciting observations of modern society.

Of particular interest is certainly the title Company with its lyric line ‘For Company in the 21st Century, I like lots of MTV’. Trumpeter Dave Douglas and the guitarist John McLean, already known from Café Blue, give Barber’s enchanting voice a solid counterpoint and the Choral Thunder Choir provides almost incredible dynamics. The follow-up album to Café Blue finally established Barber as a serious figure in the jazz business and at the same time made it clear that she did not intend to be put in musical drawers.

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Patricia Barber – Higher (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/352.8kHz]

Patricia Barber - Higher (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/352.8kHz] Download

Patricia Barber – Higher (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/352.8 kHz | Time – 55:17 minutes | 3,21 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Impex Records

Impex Records is excited to announce their premier collaboration with one of our generation’s most influential jazz artists, Patricia Barber. Her elegant album “Higher”, recorded and mixed by long-time collaborator Jim Anderson, contains eight songs that explore the mysteries that bind us, causing Jazz times to declare: “Few performers in or out of jazz are as consistently brilliant as Patricia Barber…Brainy. Beautiful”.
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Patricia Barber – Smash (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Patricia Barber - Smash (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Patricia Barber – Smash (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 55:03 minutes | 2,23 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Concord Jazz

On “Smash”, her debut on Concord Jazz, Patricia Barber reconfirms her unique position in modern music as a jazz triple-threat – imaginative pianist, dazzling vocalist and brilliant composer. Smash features a dozen new Barber originals that showcase her genius as a singer-songwriter. The album delves into familiar subjects including themes of love and loss. Barber’s chilling vocals and intellect outshine many if not all her contemporaries. Barber’s majestic craft lies in the compelling and empathetic words she sets to music. Barber reunites with long-time recording engineer Jim Anderson. The album is an audiophile dream.
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Patricia Barber – Higher (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Patricia Barber - Higher (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

Patricia Barber – Higher (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 55:17 minutes | 505 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Impex Records

Higher is the new studio album by composer, singer and pianist Patricia Barber. Inspired by classical works and the challenge of making jazz music more expansive, the latest project came to life. And again Barber knows how to create a more artistic side of modern jazz, without denying the traditional roots of American jazz music.
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Patricia Barber – Smash (2013) [MFSL] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Patricia Barber – Smash (2013) [MFSL]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 55:04 minutes | Scans included | 2,22 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,03 GB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2136

Patricia Barber is a crack jazz pianist, an innovative composer, a singular vocal stylist, and among the most original lyricists/song-poets to come down the pipe in 40 years. Her use of metaphor and metonymy is woven inextricably into her trademark melodies, which create mental and sonic images that evoke insight and emotion. Smash, Barber’s debut for Concord, is comprised of original material performed by an excellent band that includes guitarist John Kregor, bassist Larry Kohut, and drummer Jon Deitemyer. The predominant subject matter of these songs is love’s loss: the frustrated desire, grief, acceptance, longing, and healing its aftermath brings. Barber is as empathic and insightful as a depth psychologist. Her language is rich, precise, and devoid of trite sentimentality. Lyrically, these songs are wound with the elastic imagery of poetry, but their rhyme schemes are taut, given air by the fluidity of her jazz. Opener “Code Cool” is introduced by Deitemyer’s snare and hi-hat in a constant thrum that emulates the pulse of electronic dance music. It’s underscored by a one-note vamp from Kohut. Barber’s piano illustrates with a series of glissando chords as Kregor fills the space expressionistically, highlighting the well of images and urgency in lyrics which reference science, Keats, and medical treatment before concluding she is “…Michaelangelo’s David/Tested and worn…” Barber employs space between sections, stilling the proceeding with a single chord, before that pulse returns to her protagonist’s realization that she needs to fake it until she makes it: “I will live/As if/I were loving.” “The Wind Song” is a brooding, mysterious ballad, whose lyric drama is spacious, highlighted by brushed symbols, acoustic guitar, nearly gossamer pianism, and a physical bassline to bind it to earth. In the title track’s first half, the piano and bass offer the tender illustration of “the sound of a heart breaking…” But at the halfway point, the physical fury of that emotion is laid bare by Kregor’s screaming electric guitar solo, which allows for the held, breathless emotional power in this and all the previous songs, release. The companion piece is “Scream,” where a jazz piano ballad opens into a nearly full-blown rocker. “Redshift” is a crystalline bossa nova; its lyrics unite love’s loss with physics in clever, hip associations punctuated by a syncopated groove. “Bashful” is a swinging post-bop instrumental that features great soloing by everyone. “Missing” is introduced by Kregor’s acoustic and Barber’s sparse piano. It’s a musically metaphorical illustration of the tune’s subject matter: waiting in vain, hoping against hope that the truth of loss isn’t, in fact, true. It’s raw, vulnerable, and fearful. Kregor’s gorgeous solo and Kohut’s economical bassline offer room for Barber’s piano to illuminate the lyric with tenderness. Smash is an extraordinary achievement. Here, jazz is popular music without being anything other than itself. Its depth, creativity, searing poetry, and artisan musicianship make it a peerless accomplishment.

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Patricia Barber – Cafe Blue (1994) [Un-Mastered 2016] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Patricia Barber – Cafe Blue (1994) [Un-Mastered 2016]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 63:20 minutes | Front, Scans NOT included | 2,54 GB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Front Cover, Scans NOT included | 1,27 GB

Premonition Records’ reissue of Patricia Barber’s audiophile classic, Café Blue on Hybrid SACD and un-mastered. For the first time, listeners will be able to hear the mixes as they were done in the studio and not in the mastered -for-release form of all prior releases. This is the closest audio fans will get to the studio mixes – Capitol Studios remix from 2011 – and it is a remarkable experience. Now is a much quieter recording busting with dynamic contrasts.

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Patricia Barber – A Distortion Of Love (1992) [MFSL 2013] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Patricia Barber – A Distortion Of Love (1992) [MFSL 2013]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 59:18 minutes | Scans included | 2,39 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,09 GB

Pianist and singer Patricia Barber’s second album (and major-label debut) is a consistently interesting, but not always completely rewarding, array of original instrumentals, vocal standards, and surprise cover versions. The arrangement of “Summertime” that opens the program is eerie almost to the point of creepiness, and all the more effective for it: after a long instrumental prelude, Barber sings the lyrics over the most minimal bass-and-piano unison pedal point, her voice goosed with reverb and wailing softly like a ghost. “Subway Station #5,” the original composition that follows, is nervous, jumpy, barely tonal, and moves niftily from a contrapuntal and polyrhythmic introduction into a straight swing section. The problem is that it lasts almost ten minutes, and by the seventh or eighth minute, its ideas seem pretty well played out. “Or Not to Be” and “Yet Another in a Long Series of Yellow Cars” suffer from similar treatment. But her singing on “You Stepped Out of a Dream” and, especially, her sweet and touching rendition of the soul classic “My Girl” are quietly spectacular. There’s every reason to expect great things of her in the future.

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Patricia Barber – Verse (2002) [MFSL 2005] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Patricia Barber – Verse (2002) [MFSL 2005]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 51:29 minutes | Scans included | 2,08 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 981 MB

Pianist/vocalist Patricia Barber is the Alanis Morissette of the jazz world. Her serpentine, poetic songs teeter between deftly witty and awkwardly Latinate. Each album is more ambitious than the last, taking her deeper into avant-garde territory both lyrically and instrumentally. Verse is no exception. Case in point: “I Could Eat Your Words,” a canny bit of word play in the tradition of “Peel Me a Grape,” in which Barber barely gets away with words like “provocation” and “syllogistically,” only to sum things up with the devastating line, “sip the spit from your bittersweet rhyme.” The indelible track here, though, has to be “If I Were Blue,” featuring the line, “If I were blue, like David Hockney’s pool/Dive into me and glide under a California sky/Inside your mouth and nose and eyes am I.” It’s perhaps the best thing Barber has ever written — it could be considered serious modern poetry if only it didn’t rhyme. About the biggest complaint one can lodge against Barber is her insistent denial of melody. Her voice is soft, almost matter-of-fact, and she more or less hints at singing. Obviously, lyrical intent is more important to Barber than how she carries a tune, and her voice does seem more suited to whispering torch songs cabaret-style, such as on “Dansons la Gigue,” than delivering any vocal gymnastics. It’s just that sometimes her songs could be showcased better with a consistently delivered vocal melody. However, she makes up for her lack of sonorousness (to use a Barber kind of word) with intricate musical arrangements, this time around augmented by the Miles Davis-cum-Lester Bowie trumpet of Dave Douglas. Barber’s is a world of cloaked intentions, and Douglas’ playful vibrato works like the flame of a candle illuminating her soft, shadowy corners.

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Patricia Barber – Nightclub (2000) [MFSL 2002] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Patricia Barber – Nightclub (2000) [MFSL 2002]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 57:34 minutes | Scans included | 2,32 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,06 GB

Chicago native and classically trained pianist Patricia Barber’s sixth album is a collection of downtempo standards, perfect for a rainy day. Taking on classics like “Autumn Leaves,” “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” or even “Alfie” is always a risk, but her confident vocals and interpretations eradicate any doubt that she is a master. Her production is spare, allowing her to sing with such melancholy it’s almost eerie. Not many performers can relay such harrowing feeling without over-emoting, but Barber makes it seem effortless. Nightclub is an appropriate title; listening to these love songs is like being in a smoky room, courted by a lounge singer. This is a classy, solid effort.

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Patricia Barber – Companion (1999) [MFSL 2003] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Patricia Barber – Companion (1999) [MFSL 2003]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 52:27 minutes | Scans included | 2,12 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 982 MB

Companion was recorded in a special three-night series of shows in July, 1999 at Chicago’s famed Green Mill jazz club — an unusually short amount of time to produce a live album. To mine as much material as possible from those nights the performances were run more like recording sessions than live shows, with the crowd reverently hushed. Patricia Barber is in her element and the only thing that seems to have suffered for the recording circumstances is the album’s length — at seven songs and 40 minutes, it walks the line between standard EP and full-length size. One surmises that it might have been longer had there been more album-quality material from the performances. Recalling the energy that was present on her critically worshipped Café Blue album, there is an ease and creativity on Companion which makes her fans’ devotion understandable. Barber has been criticized for being a jazz singer in the loosest sense — her style borrows heavily from R&B and she often covers pop songs (Sonny Bono’s “The Beat Goes On” is a sheer stylish delight), and her song “If This Isn’t Jazz” answers that criticism with a thumb to the nose. What many critics fail to notice, however, is the strength of her musicianship. Sexism within the industry keeps many from seeing female jazz performers playing roles other than those of vocalists — Barber’s warm, breathy voice and creative phrasing are wonderful, for sure, but what really shines are her arrangements. With a talented band behind her, on Companion Barber has made magic with her compositions, her piano playing, and yes, her voice. Intended to be a companion to Modern Cool, this album of mostly previously unrecorded material serves as an excellent introduction to all of her work.

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Patricia Barber – Modern Cool (1998) [MFSL 2002] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Patricia Barber – Modern Cool (1998) [MFSL 2002]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 73:00 minutes | Scans included | 2,94 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,35 GB

The dark, smoky voice of Patricia Barber is quite haunting. On Modern Cool, she mostly sings downbeat songs at slow tempos. All but three songs are her own originals, and they deal with such subject matter as a “homage to beauty” that seems to connect painting one’s face with prostitution, loneliness, mindless conformity, the “postmodern blues” and other depressing topics. Even her treatments of “You and the Night and the Music” and “Light My Fire” make one think that she is utterly bored with life. Barber, whose piano playing is mostly very much in the background, comes across on this set as a pop/folk singer. Most of the jazz moments are provided by trumpeter Dave Douglas, who is on half of the selections and adds some much-needed excitement; guitarist John McLean, bassist Michael Arnopol, and drummer/percussionist Mark Walker complete the group. This set is definitely for specialized tastes.

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Patricia Barber – Cafe Blue (1994) [MFSL 2002] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Patricia Barber – Cafe Blue (1994) [MFSL 2002]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 63:06 minutes | Scans included | 2,914 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,14 GB

Patricia Barber, who is both a fine keyboardist and an atmospheric singer, contributes roughly half of the material to her Premonition debut. Her dark voice and the generally esoteric program takes awhile to get used to (listeners will have to be patient), but after two or three listens, this thought-provoking and rather moody set becomes more accessible. The music ranges stylewise from sophisticated pop sensitivities to the avant-garde and even touches of minimalism, while not fitting securely into any category. Barber gives a new slant to “The Thrill Is Gone,” “Ode to Billy Joe,” and even “A Taste of Honey,” and her vocals are all quite haunting and contemporary. An added plus to this unusual music is adventurous guitarist John McLean.

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Patricia Barber – NightClub (2000/2004) DSF DSD64

Patricia Barber – NightClub (2000/2004)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82 MHz | Time – 57:34 minutes | 2,03 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds | Front Cover | © Premonition

Nightclub was recorded at Chicago Recording Company in mid-2000 by recording engineer Jim Anderson. Done on the Sony 3348, a 32-track (16/48) digital tape recorder, and mixed down to 2-track, half-inch analog tape with Dolby SR, this was Barber’s first album consisting entirely of standards. Anderson utilized mostly tube microphones (Brauner and Neumann) and John Hardy M-1 preamps, whose signal was patched directly to the tape bypassing the console. Nightclub also prominently features the CRC stairwell as a natural reverb chamber. The album was mastered by David Glasser of Airshow Mastering from the original analog mixes.

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Patricia Barber – Modern Cool (1998/2002) DSF DSD64

Patricia Barber – Modern Cool (1998/2002)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82 MHz | Time – 01:13:00 minutes | 2,67 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds | Front Cover |  © Floyd Records

Modern Cool was recorded at Chicago Recording Company in early 1998. For many, Modern Cool is the record that brought Patricia Barber to their attention. Its success with critics and jazz fans led Blue Note Records to enter into a “joint imprint” production deal with Premonition Records, the first time they had ever done such a deal in their storied history. Done on the Sony 3348, a 32-track (16/48) digital tape recorder, and mixed down to 2-track, half-inch tape with Dolby SR, this was Barber’s first album of mostly original material. Anderson utilized mostly tube microphones (Brauner and Neumann) and John Hardy M-1 preamps, whose signal was patched to the tape bypassing the console.

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Patricia Barber – Cafe Blue (1994/2013) DSF DSD64

Patricia Barber – Cafe Blue (1994/2013)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:02:52 minutes | 2,48 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds | Front Cover | © Premonition Records

Cafe Blue was recorded at Chicago Recording Company in early 1994 by recording engineer Jim Anderson. It was the first release Barber recorded for Premonition Records. Recorded in 16/48 kHz on a 32-track Otari machine, the original multitracks were then transferred and remixed in 2011 at Capitol Studios in Holywood, California. The idea was to reimagine the album, which had become one of the most widely praised jazz recordings of the 1900s, at one of the legendary recording facilities of the golden era of jazz recording, the late 1950s. Utilizing Studio B’s remarkably warm Neve 808 console, which was actually the first Neve console in the U.S., and Capitol’s EMT plate reverbs and live chambers, Anderson delivered a stunning reinterpretation that has become the standard versiion of this recording. The album was mastered from the original analog mixes by David Glasser of Airshow Mastering.

Cafe Blue itself is so special that it outshines its peers. This recording of an outstanding female vocalist won more than 15 awards of best reviews from international major magazines of music institutions. But the most important aspect of this disc crystallizes in the two songs for which Barber herself has written the lyrics. The down-and-out sophistication of “What A Shame” and the self-effacing wonderment of “Too Rich For My Blood,” show a serious jazz musician exploring the emotional domain normally occupied by pop and rock artists.

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