JAZZ REVIEW : Barber’s L.A. Debut a Study in Visual and Aural Imagery

Quirky, offbeat, eccentric? Take your choice. Any or all of these terms describe the music of pianist-singer Patricia Barber. But only partially. Because the Chicago-based Barber, who made her Los Angeles debut with a brief, one-set program before an spellbound, overflow crowd at LunaPark on Thursday night, is also one of the most utterly individual jazz performers to arrive on the scene in years.

Her appearance, with the sole accompaniment of bassist Michael Arnopol, was a study in visual and aural imagery. On several numbers in which she sang without playing the room’s sadly inadequate upright piano, her hands were in constant motion, turning, twisting, fingering imaginary instruments. Occasionally, she tossed her head back, hair flying as she was captivated by the process of making music.

But the most unique aspect of her performance was an ever- probing search for creative interpretations. In almost every case, the quest proved worthwhile, even when Barber was dealing with extremely familiar material. “All the Things You Are” was assembled, piece by piece until, at the very close of the duo’s efforts, it finally coalesced into a melody. “Summertime” was sung to the accompaniment of a relentless pedal-point bass note, and “Honeysuckle Rose” was a grooving, interactive impromptu between voice, bass and piano.

Most surprising of all was Barber’s revival of the Bobbie Gentry hit from 1967, “Ode to Billie Joe.” Again singing with a persistent rhythm pattern from Arnopol’s bass, Barber reached into the stark, folk roots of the tune to pull out a vision that was as dramatically gripping as it was musically virtuosic.

Although Barber is well-known in Chicago, she has just begun to achieve some national visibility, in part via a new recording, “cafe blue” on Premonition Records. If her appearance at LunaPark is any indication, she has the skill, the imagination and the theatrical presence to take a place among the important young artists of the decade.