Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 2000)
October ’ve been a serious jazz fan all my adult life. KMHD provides my daily soundtrack, and in my 20s I was even a groupie of sorts, fol lowing a jazz quintet from gig to gig. So 1 am astonished that until a few months ago, Patricia Barber managed to elude my radar. And my gaydar. W hile lesbian folk singers with guitars seem to proliferate like bamboo fed by an under ground spring, a lesbian jazz singer who plays piano is as rare as a zinnia in December. And so is Barber’s fourfold talent. She is equal parts amazing composer, lyricist, pianist and singer. W hich is why her talents seem somewhat wasted on her latest album, Nightclub, a compi lation of jazz standards. She says she did it, in part, to appease her faithful fans who wanted a recording of the rest of the music she plays during her regular gig at Chicago’s Green Mill. There’s nothing wrong with the CD ; I just pre fer her original material. 1 have since made up for lost time by lis tening to every one of her five CDs several times over and have come to realize Barber was in my life all along. Now that I’m attuned to the smoky, sultry timbre of her voice that is at once both hot and cool, I catch her on KMHD several times a day. I had the great fortune to experience Barber live last August at the Mount Hood Jazz Festi val. Perhaps no one told her she’d be playing her set in the scorching 90-degree sun— or per haps she traded comfort to look jazz club-hip dressed all in black. No matter; her music was ccxil enough to ice off the whole throng that gradually crowded the lawn in front of her stage. In person, she plays like a dancer— when she finishes a phrase she retracts her hands to her body in exotic, dramatic gestures that man age to lixak spontaneous and natural. Her vocal range seems even wider, and her deep, throaty register is both poignant and evocative. “Post-Modern Blues” from her hit album M odem C ool went over especially well with the crowd. The catchy lyrics were appreciated, despite the distractions of restless children somersaulting across the grass. Pro that she is, Barber held the fans in her thrall and cooked up a big sound from her quartet to finish with Duke Ellington’s “Caravan.” We met up after the gig but decided to do our interview via e-mail. W hile Barber is no closet case, she doesn’t think of herself as a les bian musician and declined to answer ques tions about the impact of her orientation or the challenges she’s faced as a woman fronting a jazz group. And although she seems to be having fun playing with gender identity in songs such as “Black Magic Woman” and “She’s a Lady,” she didn’t respond to questions about that, either. sr> w* '% s' * ' v * * Where has she been all my life? Jazz phenom Patricia Barber was in my head and I didn’t know it bv O r ia n a G r een acceptance is way over due? Do you wonder what took people so long to discover you? I, myself, am pissed I missed your concert here last November! A : Jazz is a sophisti cated art. I think I only started to gain an indi vidual voice with C afe Blue and then especially with Modem C ool. It took me some time and some paying of dues to gain any mastery at all over this music, so every thing worked out exactly as it was supposed to work out. Q: Why did you de cide to return to grad school six years ago? Are you planning to teach? Can jazz perform ance be taught, or do you have to be bom a jazz musician? A : Six years ago, I felt that I needed some inspiration, and at the same time I was offered a good scholarship to Northwestern Universi ty. Northwestern is a rich school with fine facilities and studios and musi cians, so it was the per fect time for me to take advantage of the oppor tunity to learn. I would love to repeat this kind of pattern for the rest of my life if I could— back to school every siJc years— in music, history, whatever. Jazz can be taught to those with natural tal ent for it. It is only moderately successful to teach music at all to those without a natural musical talent. And often, jazz doesn’t need to be academically taught at all; it can be best to leam it “on the streets.” ¿ ■ m r z " -¿¿¿cSki: >: < Question: Are you where you thought you’d be in your career after 20 years in the business? Answer: Yes, I’m probably exactly where I thought I’d be after 20 years. I thought I’d be a kind of cult success, and I think I’ve achieved at least that and even a little more than I expected in other ways. Q: Your CDs have displayed solid musi cianship and stellar turns from the beginning. With all the glowing reviews you’ve received in recent years, do you ever feel like your _ r Q: In the song “If This Isn’t Jazz,” you write about the occupational hazard of smoke in your lungs and ask, “ Is this a lifestyle mis take?” Is the jazz club scene starting to lose its appeal— or perhaps you were never in love with those venues to begin with? Would you ? rather just compose, record and tour to larg er, smokeless venues? A : I love the nightclub scene and always have. My new CD, Nightclub, is dedicated to the late-night fans I’ve played for in nightclubs for years. Yes, as I gain more control and as I get older, I ask for no smoking, and that’s important to me now. Eventually, I’d like to perform less and compose more— cook and do a lot of nothing. But performance will always be an important part of the music. It’s hard to imagine a life without it now. Q: W hat started your lyrics flowing, since they don’t appear until Cafe Blue? Since your first recorded compositions were instrumental, did you intend all along to also write lyrics, or did they just start flowing one day? Is that part of songwriting pleasure or agony? Are you able to resist making your songs autobiographical, or is that a great way to vent? I’m thinking of “W inter” and “Let It Rain.” A : As a jazz singer, I became frustrated with the jazz vocal repertoire and thought I would give composing lyrics a go. It is both pleasure and agony, and some of my songs are autobio graphical, but not all of them could be. At some point a writer has to take on the persona of a fictional character because either the material would be too paltry or the life would be too chaotic. N i-. ■ . > .• :¿ • ‘ ¡ft ' v 6,2000 Q : So many of the songs you write seem to be melancholy. Does that reflect your basic personality, or is it just cooler to be blue? A : For some reason, it’s hard to capture happiness because it comes in the form of a quiet, contented and relatively undramatic shape. It’s as elusive to portray as it is to find. Q : Do you still dream of opening your own nightclub? Any other big dreams you want to share? A: I would no longer like to own a nightclub. I’m having a very noisy, fun-filled, exciting life. My dreams for my future would be simple and quiet and full of family and friends and music. f you have even the tiniest bit of inclina tion to appreciate jazz or just a great musi cian, you should run, not walk, to your nearest C D vendor and buy any Patricia Bar ber album you can find. My faves are C afe Blue and M odem C ool. C heck them all out at patriciabarber.com. in O riana G reen will never miss another Port- land appearance o f Patricia Barber. She is also the Entertainment Editor o f Just Out and can be reached at oriana@ justout.com . Ijp f O o ^ w Sk Chez What? Cafe ¿ p r T u rn s 6!!! \ Help Us Celebrate 6 Years N e w La te Night Hours Tues-Sat until la m Beer/Wine/Cocktails on Alberta St. with: Food. Drink & Karaoke Until 1 A .M . C h ez W h at? Heapin' Helpings of Hearty Americana 2203 NE Alberta. Portland (503) 281- 1717 Hours Sun 9-3 mon '8-3 Tucs-Sat 8 1am JU)I0I\ Restaurant ▼ Retail 4100 S.E. Division ▼ (503)233-6950 Join the Blend I eclectic food, wine, & furnishings l | a
