Patricia Barber – Higher (2LPs, 45RPM, Impex)

Higher, Patricia Barber’s eleventh studio album, begins with the song cycle “Angels, Birds, and I,” which she wrote for classical singers, jazz performers, and instrumentalists alike. For Barber, the eight titles represent the end of a process during which she developed her own harmonic system that is no longer subject to any restrictions. She will also present three of her acclaimed live performance arrangements of tracks from the Great American Songbook. She is joined by longtime collaborators Patrick Mulcahy (bass), John Deitemeyer (drums) and Neal Alger (guitar). For the recording in Studio 5 of the Chicago Recording Company, Patricia Barber again engaged the multiple Grammy award-winning sound engineer Jim Anderson, with whom she has a successful working relationship, and his colleague Ulrike Schwarz. The mastering was done by the equally renowned Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering.