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An evening of conversation, reading, and live performance featuring poet Maureen N. McLane and jazz artist Patricia Barber. This event is free and open to the public. To guarantee entry and seating, please register... General seating. Doors open at 5:30pm Please join us for an exciting conversation, reading, and musical performance on the underthought entanglements of music and love, featuring acclaimed poet Maureen N. McLane and internationally renowned songwriter, jazz pianist, and singer Patricia Barber. Maureen N. McLane is the widely celebrated author of eight books of poetry, two critical monographs on British romantic poetics, an experimental hybrid of memoir and criticism (My Poets), and numerous essays on romantic and contemporary literature and culture. Her most recent books are What You Want: poems (2023) and My Poetics (2024), an adventure in poeticriticism. She is the Henry James Professor of English and American Letters at New York University and a Finalist for the National Book Award. Patricia Barber has earned international acclaim as a dazzling and uncompromising jazz artist. Long known for her sultry vocals, compelling pianism, and sophisticated songwriting, she has come to be regarded as a deeply visionary artist who blurs the lines between poetry, jazz, and art music while rewriting the Great American Songbook through jazz song cycles, original lyrics, and nuanced harmony. Her studio albums have been issued by Blue Note, Premonition, and Impex. Her honors have included a Guggenheim Fellowship (2003), a Townsend Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley (2007), and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019). MORE INFORMATION

The 45th Chicago Jazz Festival kicked off its headline events with two erudite individuals, Esperanza Spalding and Patricia Barber. Both worldly, wordy intellectuals, they’re also groovers, sensualists, bad-asses. Night two of the fest tasted barbs from Barber, who claimed she hadn’t been invited since 1992. (In fact, she last appeared in 2002.) Barber alleged her first appearance was heralded by a warning not to sing originals, which she summarily ignored. Originals made up the lion’s share of this rare and substantial set, which comprised six self-penned pieces, several from the ’90s (“Like JT,” “Touch Of Trash,” “Company”) and five standards, if jazz police will permit Sandy Denny’s “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” and “Black Magic Woman.” The latter she waxed live at the Green Mill on Companion (Blue Note/Premonition 1999) with the insinuating guitar of John McLean, but that chair has long been held by the versatile Neil Alger. Alger contributed lovely acoustic accompaniment to Jobim’s “Triste” and fuzzed-out snark on “Trash,” but the 1968 Peter Green classic, with its heritage as an Otis Rush lift and feature for Santana, was pregnant with shred expectation in Millennium Park. Alger delivered with composure and insouciance (later performing with his own Here And Now, alongside incisive trumpeter Chad McCullough, at the fest’s WDCB Jazz Lounge). Barber’s drummer, Jon Deitemyer, was also additionally booked — clearly a first-call accompanist for vocalists — appearing with up-and-coming singer Isabella Isherwood and pianist Jeremy Kahn. But it was Emma Dayhuff who stood out in tandem with Barber on a stunning duo of “Wild Is The Wind,” during which she eked uncommon resonance and poignancy from her contrabass with hypersensitive arco work. Barber, the ice queen, unapologetically grey and gay (her hair was dark 23 years ago and she insisted her closer “Devil’s Food” was a “gay song”), reminded that she remains a school of one. She hit poised long notes vocally, yet she has a line in sharp instrumentals, too (check out “Crash” from Live: A Fortnight In France, Blue Note 2004), which she sometimes neglects in favor of her skewering observations about contemporary society or folk she either adores or finds insufferable. Michael Jackson, DOWNBEAT September 9, 2025 Photo by Valerie Booth READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Singer-songwriter and pianist Patricia Barber was singing about that same technoskepticism while Spalding was still in high school. “Company,” off her breakthrough 1998 album, got a suave and sophisticated redux on Friday, Barber preparing the Pavilion Steinway to sound like a hollow banjo and Jon Deitemyer holding down the skittering rimshot groove. No one on the Chicago scene writes music remotely like Barber’s. Who else could reference Hockney, Hopper, Goya and Picasso without eliciting eyerolls (from 2002’s “If I Were Blue”), or write couplets like “Do you think of me like salt? / Do you taste me in your tears?” (from 2008’s “Snow”)? Or smuggle progressive jazz — those lancelet-sharp lyrics, on a canvas of fuzzed-out guitar and progressive harmony — in lounge-listening sheep’s clothing? And yet: Barber has not played the Chicago Jazz Festival since 1992, near the very start of her local career. When she did, she said, she was warned by a member of the festival committee not to play any originals. But on Friday? “I just played a set of all original music,” Barber said, to raucous applause. Her thoughtful colleagues helped those subtleties sing. Like Barber’s music itself, guitarist Neal Algers subtly bucks expectation, from his harmonic slipperiness to étude-like efficiency in his solo passagework off Santana’s “Black Magic Woman.” And bassist Emma Dayhuff has been a high point of every ensemble I’ve heard her in, urging bandmates and audience alike to think deeper, listen deeper. In her first solo, Dayhuff hushed her sound over the course of the solo; the others onstage followed her. The entire Pavilion seemed lean in, hanging off her every note. Hannah Edgar, CHICAGO TRIBUNE  September 2, 2025 Photo by Valerie Booth READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Patricia Barber is an extraordinary jazz musician known for her introspective, intellectual approach to both piano and vocals. Born in Iowa City, Iowa, Barber grew up immersed in music, honing her craft and developing a distinctive style that blends jazz with elements of blues, pop, and avant-garde. Albums like Nightclub and Modern Cool highlight her ability to reinterpret jazz standards while crafting original compositions that challenge the listener both musically and emotionally. Her sophisticated, moody sound has earned her a dedicated following, and her ability to experiment and evolve has kept her at the forefront of modern jazz. Barber’s music is as much about thought and emotion as it is about technical skill, making her a true standout in the jazz world. - Singersroom.com

Patricia Barber is an American jazz and blues singer-songwriter renowned for her sophisticated compositions and unique arrangements. Her music often incorporates philosophical and poetic lyrics, setting her apart in jazz. Major Albums: Cafe Blue, Modern Cool, Smash Major Achievements: Multiple jazz awards, known for blending jazz with avant-garde elements.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024 @ 7PM A special evening - interview with Howard Reich followed by a solo performance and meet-and-greet. Tickets at wintersjazzclub.com.

Friday, Apr. 26, 2024 @ 7:00pm ETRenowned Chicago jazz pianist Patricia Barber brings her inventive style to Three Oais for a night of original material from her lengthy songbook, as well as covers of jazz standards. The conert is a fundraiser for the School of American Music's Future Fund, its 10 year campaign to build an endowment to secure SAM's future. All gifts are matched by the Michigan Arts Foundation.Tickets at: https://ci.ovationtix.com/35261/production/1146880?performanceId=11205649

Patricia Barber Neal Alger on guitar Emma Dayhuff on bass Greg Artry on drums Nov 3, 2023 - Paris @ The NEW MORNING Nov 6, 2023 - Wroclaw @ Ethno Jazz Festival Synagoga Pod Białym Bocianem Nov 7, 2023 - Budapest @ Hotel Aria (special private concert) Nov 9, 2023 - Budapest @Jazz Fest Budapest Nov 11, 2023 - Vienna @ Porgy and Bess Nov 12, 2023 - Madrid @ TEATRO FERNAN GOMEZ-Centro Cultural de la Villa