Barber will be performing on the church’s rare and exquisite Fazioli piano.

Renowned as a singular songwriter for her harmonic sophistication and incisive lyrics, Barber, who won a Guggenheim fellowship in Composition, made several albums for the Premonition and Blue Note labels that sold over 100,000 copies. Those albums include “Modern Cool,” which appears on many all-time best jazz recordings lists. “Higher,” the bandleader’s first new recording in six years, merges jazz harmonies and rhythms with classical art song and Barber’s distinctive blend of poetry and song lyrics. Featured on Higher is an art song cycle, "Angels, Birds, and I...", that can be performed by jazz vocalists and instrumentalists as well as classical singers. 

Of her recent performance at The Montreal Jazz Festival, Howard Reich wrote that “every syllable, every chord change, every whispering vocal turn sends a message, and if you dare to breathe, you may miss it.” Downbeat magazine enthuses: “Barber braids wrenching, elemental poetry into a private musical language fashioned from the yearning ache of Bill Evans’ piano, Joni Mitchell’s zigzag introspections, Jobim’s winking mix of high end philosophy….”

Barber says, “Music is a demanding but mysterious discipline... It is a gift endowed by blood, then perfected by tremendous desire and perseverance...” She has played most of the world’s great jazz festivals, and when not on tour she performs at Chicago’s Green Mill, which she has helped make the city’s leading jazz room.

In April, Patricia Barber was elected to the illustrious American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a society founded in 1780 to honor excellence and convene leaders from every field of human endeavor toward advancing the common good. Among others elected this year are Michelle Obama, Jonathan Franzen, Judge Merrick Garland, and actress Anna Deveare Smith.

Tickets to see The Patricia Barber Trio, with John Dietmier on drums and Larry Kohut on bass, are available online at Barbertrio.brownpapertickets.com. The cost is $20 general admission, $15 for paid supporters of The Charlottesville Jazz Society, and $10 for students. For more information visit cvillejazz.org or call (434) 249-6191. Be sure to listen for Patricia’s music on WTJU-FM.