Modern Cool

Patricia Barber | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: PREMENITION RECORDS
• ASIN: B000009CSR
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,603 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant - A Modern Classic, January 21, 2001

By 

Rick Bruner "Internet marketing guy" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Modern Cool (Audio CD)

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.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why is Diana Krall getting all the headlines. . . ., October 12, 2001

By 

ROGER L. FOREMAN (Bath, Maine) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modern Cool (Audio CD)

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. . . .

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unsafe Music, April 1, 2001

By 

Russ Mitchell (San Francisco, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modern Cool (Audio CD)

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.