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JAZZIZ critic best of 2013 Patricia Barber's "Smash"

The one of a kind pianist/singer/composer is at the top of her game here. There's an extra richness in her compositions, and her pianism is more refined than ever. There's also more warmth in her vocals - appropriate as most of the dozen songs deal with various forms of loss (none more breathtaking than the closer, "Missing"). But Barber also apples her lyrical gifts to the trippy "Code Cool" which obliquely deconstructs Gabrielles Gifford's trauma and recovery, while "Devil's Food" champions same-sex relationship over a disco beat.

On Patricia Barber and Bio

“Indeed, in an age when pipsqueak voices and easy-listening sensibilities routinely draw critical praise and commercial success, Barber has emerged as the anti-diva: a singer uninterested in assuming the usual romantic poses, a songwriter unwilling to pen cloyingly sweet love songs, a pianist who actually has something distinctive to say at the keyboard.” –Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune Each generation has had its potent songwriters, the composers of music and lyrics that address universal themes – love, loss and social commentary.

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