Customer Reviews

Modern Cool

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I also own Nightclub and Companion, and they're both great, too, but I've been listening to this one quite a lot in the past two months or so, and it hasn't yet ceased to amaze me. I feel like I need to listen closely 5-10 more times to even begin to appreciate all the nuances. In my opinion, in 50 years we'll see Barber as one of the greats of our time. She is amazingly well rounded -- her voice, pianio playing, composition, arrangements and lyrics are all masterly. Her voice is lovely, her vocal phrasing and Monk-like toying with melody are extremely sophisticated, and unlike most singers who accompany themselves, her piano chops are with the best. Her dark, sardonic mood blends the best of classic blues and jazz with a contemporary approach that out-classes Cassandra Wilson. I'm most impressed on this album w/ her own compositions -- their enchanting lyricism and tight, clever modern melodies -- particularly Company, Let It Rain and Post Modern Blues. Well balanced w/ standards and contemporary covers, including Light My Fire and She's a Lady. Please buy this record.

When Patricia Barber can do so much more with a song than Krall does? In light of Krall's new CD garnering headlines, photo shoots, and talk, I thought it was time to give Barber the props she so richly deserves. This is the jazz vocal CD I reach for when I want something edgy, "push-the-envelope," and/or a bit unsettling---not just smooth (or "smooth"), slick, and overproduced. . . . "Touch of Trash," the opener, is a perfect example of that edgy, unsettling sound that she so naturally exudes. "Winter," with its 7/4 time signature, is one of those "this doesn't feel quite exactly right" kind of songs that challenges your brain not to relax too much. The use of e. e. cummings' poetry is very cool to me as a high school English teacher (I play this song to my juniors every year). She takes a song like "Light My Fire" and goes places with it that the Doors never intended (nor could have done). Her piano skills should not be overlooked, either.

This is not a CD of standards, classics, or tributes. This is not a CD of smooth, easy listening, radio-friendly tunes. Barber is not a JVC Jazz Festival kind of artist. This is not a CD you want to try to listen to and appreciate while driving to work. It is a complicated, unique, evocative, intimate, challenging collection of songs that Barber delivers with a passion matched by virtually no one (Cassandra Wilson and Shirley Horn would be her main competitors in my collection).

If you like your jazz "smooth" and want to see a set of legs on the side, buy Diana Krall's new CD (or one of her old ones from me. . .). If you want to be put out of your comfort zone for an hour or so, you'll find that MODERN COOL pays off big time.

To dismiss her as simply being "butch" (as did a reviewer three or four reviews down) really demeans her musicianship and shows that reviewer to be just a bit too safe and naive for someone in Barber's league. Barber does through her singing what Krall can only do by showing a little (or a lot) of leg in a photo shoot. . . .

Too bad so many people lump female jazz vocalists together, and think someone like Diane Krall and Patricia Barber are worthy of comparison. By this standard, so are Kenny G and Greg Osby.

Well, I'm being a bit harsh on Diane, or Diana, or whatever -- she's not so bad, in a pop culture kind of way.

If you have the guts to get a little edgy, you'll probably like this record a lot. If you want to play it safe with pretend jazz, you won't.

Dave Douglas plays trumpet on this record.

This album is incredible! Give it a spin--just try the on-line samples here at Amazon. You'll be hooked in within two bars of "Touch of Trash." The poetry's inventive, the music sensuous, ambiguous, always dancing from admiration to competition. Then spin another track--it'll be totally different, equally compelling, addictive.

This album has been #1 on my "Desert Island List" since I bought it several years ago. Why? (1) Because it's so good, I can't get enough of it, and yet (2) because it's so intricate, I find new things every time I listen, and most of all (3) because even after practically wearing it out, there are new questions, things I'm not sure I fully understand and appreciate.

You'll love it in two bars. You'll still be learning it in two decades!

It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, when Patricia Barber invites us into her "Winter" of discontent. And discontent is the main currency of "Modern Cool": lovers hide from view ("Silent Partner"), razor-blade women mask, market and manipulate ("Touch of Trash"); meanwhile, the artistic world collapses like a house of postcards from the Museum of Contemporary Art ("Postmodern Blues"). Aided by Michael Arnopol, who deftly changes the upright bass from a solid into a liquid before your very ears, and the broken glass guitar phrases of John McLean, it is a harsh world out there and perhaps an even harsher world in here. Modern cool, indeed.

One can almost see this disc as the story of a character who roams the shadows of Orwell's "1984", but has found the methodology not to meet the same fate as Winston. The Doors' raucous "Light My Fire" survives in this world, albeit as a plaintive whisper/prayer, a feeling echoed in "Silent Partner". Peace is found in far and few corners - "Let It Rain", with another grand chorus backing Patricia's dramatic vocals, "You & the Night & The Music", and the wordless yet free "Constantinople." Biting wit breaks up the gloom and doom: "Postmodern Blues" and "Company" are wry - though occasionally self-important - and complex in their modern cool pictures.

The allusions to Dickens and Orwell are not coincidental. Patricia Barber is an author in her own right - she simply uses a piano instead of a pen. In many cases, one does not even need the lyrics (sharp as they are) to have the picture painted.

One suspects "Modern Cool" drained Barber somewhat, as she would follow up this tremendous album with two 'easier' releases - a short-ish live CD and a cover version disc - neither of which (intentionally?) would approach the majesty of this album. But so what? The artist presently known as Patricia delivered one of the strongest and finest recordings of the 1990s, an achievement made all the more stunning by the fact that most of the recording was done in a three-day period in 1998.

Barber was in Halifax for the jazz festival last summer.....not knowing anything about her I went with an opener mind.She plays piano a bit like joe cocker sings,hands all over the place and very emotive.Once you get used to the distraction of a pianist withrubber arms i settled into really liking the music.Her band is sufficiently eclectic and sometimes dischordant to go along with the jarring you often get from her lyrics (which are dealt with in the amazon review above).Having listened to her for a while you understand why a cover of the Doors Light My Fire fits right in to the program.This is both music and tune writing that will challenge you to expand your listening vocabulary and will take you onto other artists who have things to say like Dave's True Story or Rebecca Pidgeon.

If you have ever head the Sheryl Crow song "We Do What We Can" off Tuesday Night Music Club, and liked it, you will love this. This is modern jazz for the female vocalist. The guitar licks often feel John Scofield influenced, and it has a very free jazz spirit. A 2am venture into a New York jazz club, "I'll have a Manhattan", may very well be where this album is coming from. It should be noted it is mellow, and is not simply "another female jazz CD", it is truly inovative. If you are looking for Modern Jazz, and Modern cool, this is the CD to pick up. Not to mention Patricia Barber is inovative and phenomenal on this album.

I was really dissapointed at the direction Jazz Music was takin especially in the early 90's. Contemprorary jazz seemed nothing better than elevator music and the few good jazz artists and bands floating around only stuck to covers of old time great jazz tunes....And then i heard this CD. I was completely blown away at the sheer genius of this music. This cd is the very essence of cutting edge modern jazz..the kind of jazz that does not blindly immitate the original masters. Patricia Barber has taken inspartion from Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Nat King Cole and Shirly Horn and created a unique style that is hers and her's alone. The music gives you a sense of vastness and confinement at the same time while takin the you on a futuristic journey into total musical bliss. Almost all the music on this Cd is written by Barber herself. The lyrics..which she has also written herself are nothing shot of beautiful deep and meaningful poetry. Through her music and lyrics Patricia Barber conveys a vast array to emotions ranging from love to heartbreak to anger to sprituality to sarcasm. I actually had the chance to see her perform live in Chicago. I was totally taken aback by the power of her music. I just cannot understand why Dianna Krall is so popular and she is not. I will pick her any day over Krall. Barber is not afraid to take risk and push her music on to uncharted waters and she does all that withought raping the souls of the legends who made Jazz what it is today. Listen to Patricia Barber...and you will will know what realy Jazz sound like today..dont be left under the shadow of commercialism and safety...take chance...a whole new world will open for you to enjoy.

Too bad so many people lump female jazz vocalists together, and think someone like Diane Krall and Patricia Barber are worthy of comparison. By this standard, so are Kenny G and Greg Osby.

Well, I'm being a bit harsh on Diane, or Diana, or whatever -- she's not so bad, in a pop culture kind of way.

If you have the guts to get a little edgy, you'll probably like this record a lot. If you want to play it safe with pretend jazz, you won't.

The trumpet player on this recording is Dave Douglas. (!)

I am dumbfounded! I saw Patricia last night at the famous Green Mill in Chicago where the likes of Al Capone used to hang out. It was undoubetedly the most intense, outstanding performance I have EVER seen. Her rendition of "You are my Sunshine" left me in tears. WOW. I am glad I live in Chicago. She plays every Sunday and Monday night that she is in town. I went out today and bought all of her CD's. I am hooked. Gotta see her live. She has another album coming out October 3. I dare not breathe!