| A jazz snob might cringe at the idea of
covering tunes by Bill Withers or Sonny & Cher, but in truth, pop interpretations have
been a part of the jazz tradition for, oh, eight decades now. The question is not so much
who wrote the song, but does it lend itself to a jazz version and does the artist pull it
off with imagination and class?
The answer is yes, she does.
Singer-pianist Patricia Barber and her band laid down these tracks in July live at the
Green Mill, where Barber has held residency on Sunday and Monday nights for years. The
disc is intended as a live "companion" to her 1998 release, "modern
cool," and Premonition--the local label now distributed by Blue Note--is offering it
at a special list price of $9.98 to reach a wider audience. As far as live recordings go,
this one is top notch, with excellent sound quality and lively audience rapport; even the
applause sounds crystal clear.
The band kicks right in with Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On," which is one
of the disc's most memorable cuts despite Barber's disclaimer in Premonition's press
release. She says she hopes this will be interpreted "either as blasphemy, or as a
cheap-tricks attempt to get attention. Nothing in between, please."
Forget blasphemy; if anything, it's a cheap attention-getter, but only in the best sense
of the phrase. I move that it's neither choice, but rather a hip new styling that brings
out the best of a ditty one wouldn't expect to work as a jazz ballad. Barber sings in
short, breathy phrases with a quiet intensity that conveys a deeply personal message, and
her Hammond B-3 organ contributes a cool ambience that is downright eerie.
Her interpretations of Bill Withers' "Use Me" and Peter Green's "Black
Magic Woman" (made famous by Santana, of course) are dished up in a similar style. As
a word to describe good jazz, "understated" is overused, but it's still the best
word to capture Barber's approach to these songs. To coin another phrase, it's the kind of
music where the spaces between the notes are as important as the notes themselves. Her
bandmates-- bassist Michael Arnopol, guitarist John McLean, drummer/percussionist Eric
Montzka and percussionist Ruben Alvarez--are well attuned to this concept.
The other four songs are originals, combining the same less-is-more attitude with Barber's
poetry-set-to-music lyrics. "Like JT" is an exception in that it's the only
instrumental (Barber plays piano) and it's more up-tempo than the others. It alternates
between an earthy soul-jazz feel and a more elegant 6/8-time section, with exemplary
rhythm section work throughout.
Barber's lyrics are thought-provoking and full of imagery. In "Touch of Trash,"
she intones: "Eyeliner drawn with an artisan's hand/replication makes
perfection/she's just a button short of trash." And later: "She's just a culture
short of class." In "If This Isn't Jazz," she takes potshots at New York
Times jazz critics, wondering if they'll say she's too white or too black. "If this
isn't jazz," she sings, "it will have to do until the real thing comes
along."
Don't worry. This may not be Coke, but it qualifies as the real thing.
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