[jude]

Just picked up Patricia Barber's Nightclub CD today. What a great CD in every way!

Patricia Barber is a jazz female vocalist, and the music is phenomenal (she sings a lot of old classics). And the quality of this recording make it one of the best-sounding redbook CD's I've got.

 

[neil]

Speaking of female vocalists, has any of you ever heard/listened to Eva Cassidy? Man alive, just fantastic. My wife heard about her on NPR the other day, and we decided to pull a few of her songs down with Morpheus -- next day, bought her CD titled Eva Cassidy - Eva by Heart.

Beautiful voice. Unfortunately, she passed away in the mid 1990's -- only in her 30's (cancer I believe). But few, can she sing. It's not as nicely recorded as I'd like, however, her live blues cover album (samples I picked up off of Morpheus) are just great.. and I can't wait to dig up that CD from the local record store.

 

[acidtripwow]

Yes, Patricia Barber is fantastic. I've been going between her and Diana Krall lately. This has made up a good 50% of my listening. I'm currently spinning Diana's "All For You" on the following combo Philips EXP 103 CD/MP3 player, Total Airhead, and AKG 501 headphones. I have Patricia Barber's following CDs "Nightclub", "Modern Cool", and "Cafe Blue." They all sound great to me. I don't have any Eva Cassidy so I'll have to check her out.

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by acidtripwow I've been going between her and Diana Krall lately.

I've got to pick up some Diana Krall when next at the store -- I read so much about her music, but don't have any of it.

Which of her albums (if she has several) would you suggest I try first?

And which of Patricia Barber's albums finds the most favor with you?

 

[acidtripwow]

Jude, I have the following Diana Krall CDs:

1. Stepping Out
2. Love Scenes
3. When I Look In Your Eyes
4. Only Trust Your Heart
5. All For You

It's kind of hard to pick a favorite because they all sound great to me. If I had to pick one to start with I would choose Stepping Out - remastered with an extra track. I pick it because it has the song "Jimmie" which I really enjoy. When it comes on I usually hit the repeat button on my CD player and listen to it a few times in a row. Another great song off the same CD is "Straighten Up and Fly Right." This is one of those songs that is just fun to play. Listen to the lyrics and you will understand why. You can go to Buy.com to take a listen to some of her songs or download some MP3s from the net.

As far as Patricia Barber goes, I really like Cafe Blue. It has "The Thrill is Gone" and "Too Rich For My Blood" on it. These are songs that I never get tired of hearing. They are just really "soothing" songs. Have fun listening to whatever you get. You really can't go wrong with any of the CDs from these two fantastic Jazz artists.

 

[jude]

acid,

How is the recording quality on the rest of the Patricia Barber albums (I only have Nightclub)? I mean, Nightclub sounds as though it was recorded and mastered phenomenally well, doesn't it?

And is the quality of the recording as good on the Diana Krall albums?

 

[acidtripwow]

Jude, I find the quality on the other Patricia Barber CDs very good also. I don't hear any faults with them. When I listen with my home combo Toshiba SD-4205 DVD/CD player, Micro-Zotl, and Grado HP 2 it sounds very good indeed.
The Diana Krall CDs vary in quality. Sometimes I get sibilance on some tracks. It could be due to my setup though. I don't have the best CD player but it sounds a lot better than my old Technics CD player I was using.

 

[eeyssjr]

Just an observation. Patricia Barber, does anyone else think she looks like a man in drag in the CD inlay. The front cover is the only "complementary" picture i can find ie: where she looks like a woman!

Not that it bothers me, its all about the muasic at the end of the day, which incidentally is fantastic. But her voice does exhibit an unusual range.

Anyone else notice this.

BTW, is this forum an all new headphone forums set up after headwize went down? There seems to be few posts that suggests its new. The forum software is much more advanced. Excellent.

 

[Wing]

Well, according to her website, it seems a lot of people in the gay community are appreciating her music.

She seems to be singing slightly offkey sometimes but according to some reviewer, that her ability to bring out different shades in her tone. I can still enjoy her standards Nightclub CD but don't quite like the style of her music in the other CDs. Stereophile did an article on her recording engineer. He seems to know what he's doing.

I also like Diana Kralls When I look into your eyes. As stated there is some sibilance. Although the general quality of the recording is quite good, even with semi decent equipment, it is possible to tell that it was recorded multitrack and some processing was used because in one of the guitar tracks you can hear clearly had been recorded with quite a bit of noise and it was noise reduced right near the beginning.

Another excellent female jazz vocalist that grew on me was Christy Baron. She has some very pleasant and relaxing music.

 

[legoman]

Someody mentioned Christy Baron here. I have to say musically she is certainly not the last word, but the arrangements and the voice are very pleasant and the recording quality is excellent (Chesky), making it definitely worth a listen.

 

[acidtripwow]

I think Patricia Barber is going to be at the Green Mill here in Chicago on Monday July 9th. I will certainly try to be there.

 

[nick danger]

I really enjoy "Modern Cool" the most. Very well recorded, maybe a touch too much bass. Sennheiser says so - surprise - AKG says it's just fine.
Very inventive band, great percussion, even banging or plucking piano strings.
"Constantinople" middle east feel and did I say great acoustic bass? No? Well , there is a great bass player here too.
Her home base is Chicago, I saw her last year at a free outdoor show behind Lincoln Park Zoo. Very nice performance.