Patricia Barber Clique Hybrid Multi-Channel & Stereo SACD

2022 Grammy Award Nominee:
• Best Immersive Audio Album: Clique
Hybrid Multi-Channel & Stereo SACD!
Stereo & 5.1 Surround Mixed by Jim Anderson at Skywalker Sound!
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering!
Includes Never-Before-Seen Photos & Essays!
Hi-Fi News Album Choice 2021 Winner!
Voted One of the 10 Best New Releases Of 2021 by JazzTimes' A.D. Amorosi!
TAS Rated 5/5 Music, 5/5 Sonics in the December 2021 Issue of The Absolute Sound!
Michael Fremer Rated 10/11 Music, 11/11 Sonics!
Patricia Barber, the performer known for boldly blurring the lines between poetry, jazz, and art song, has announced the forthcoming release of a new all-standards album, Clique, due out August 6, 2021 in breathtaking hi-fi. The long-awaited successor to Nightclub, her critically acclaimed and fan-favorite first all-standards album, Clique features a tracklist of tunes that Barber has frequently performed as encores throughout her illustrious career, including classics by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stevie Wonder, Lee Hazlewood, Lerner & Loewe, Thelonious Monk and more. After growing an international cult following, earning the first-ever Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to a non-classical songwriter, and becoming an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Patricia Barber is back with a "silk, velvet, languid, warm" journey through music history as she "respects traditions, bends them to make her own points, and freshens them into something new," as noted in the album liner notes by NPR's Susan Stamberg.
These are relaxed, communal sessions. Her long-time core duo of bassist Patrick Mulcahy and drummer Jon Deitemyer ride up and down, in and out of Barber's complex, sensitive playing and reflective singing. The support of her long-term players, along with guitarist Neal Alger and saxophonist Jim Gailloreto allow her to shine brightly while digging out striking moments for their own unique contributions. The chemistry is palpable, all encompassing. This group's long-developed synergy -- painstakingly curated by these musicians for years -- provides both a metaphor and the perfect title for her new album.
With Clique, Patricia Barber builds on her album Nightclub, which is popular with fans and critics alike, on which she presents American standards. The American jazz musician, pianist and composer has made a name for herself among audiophiles with her music between poetry, jazz and art song. Clique is a new collection of standards that Barber has only played as an encore at concerts, including songs by Stevie Wonder, Lee Hazlewood and Thelonious Monk. She is accompanied by her long-time companions Patrick Mulcahy (bass), Jon Deitemyer (drums), Neal Alger (guitar) and Jim Gailloretto (saxophone).
The recording in DXD is the responsibility of Grammy winner Jim Anderson, who also took over the mixing in the studios of Skywalker Sound. Bob Ludwig (Gateway Mastering) is responsible for the mastering. Fans call it Patrica Barber's best album.
Hybrid multi-channel SACD with stereo SACD track and the CD track with MQA encoding.
"Clique is an exceptional recording; one of those rare events where all elements of the creative process amalgamate to yield a record of perfect performances and technical brilliance." - Tom Gibbs, Positive Feedback Read more!
The harmonic language of jazz, as well as that of the Great American Songbook, is certainly rich - look how much has come out of it - but it's circumscribed. I started wanting to hear something else. - Patricia Barber
While [Clique] still has everything that makes a Patricia Barber album all her own, her singing style, piano playing, phrasing, and arranging, it has an undeniable sense of coolness and a consistent infectious groove that just grabs you and doesn't let go. Yes, the songs are all recognizable standards, but Patricia Barber handily takes them and makes each her own while still keeping it all sounding appealing and approachable for an admitted jazz neophyte like myself... The sound quality is superb with an excellent sense of body and detail that has been captured in her vocals along with the ringing and decay of her piano notes that sounds just right. Throughout the album, the acoustic bass sounds fantastic with a visceral impact to the notes and plenty of string detail in the plucks. But putting all the sound-geekery aside for a moment, just listening to 'Clique' on any good-sounding system or pair of headphones is a really joyous experience. The music itself is absolutely top-shelf and I highly recommend checking it out. - Carlo Lo Raso, Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity
Flying by at 45 minutes, Patricia Barber's new album is everything I want when a great vocalist rethinks songs that have been covered over and over. Daring, rhythmic, warming, exciting, and immediately accessible... This luscious album is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. - Tony Frankel, stageandcinema.com
These time-honored songs, lovingly curated, arranged, and performed by pianist/vocalist Patricia Barber and her band, are at last seeing the light of day when the world needs them more than ever. Pristinely recorded, Clique assembles what began as encores to live performances into an experience all its own. - JazzBluesNews
This is Barber's first collection of standards since 2000 with Nightclub, to my ears a 'concept' album in the classic Sinatra mold, the songs untied by shared themes and moods. In Clique, however, as the liner notes suggest, 'The sources are all over the map,' from the mean streets of 'This Town' to the exuberant romanticism of 'I Could Have Danced All Night' to the laidback cool of 'One Note Samba' (sung in Portuguese), to two kinds of heartbreak in 'Trouble Is A Man' and 'All in Love Is Fair' (sung with a depth of feeling that eludes even the song's creator). Two sensational numbers are instrumental only, with Barber's pianism never more assured and imaginative, her colleagues matching her every step of the way, and Jim Anderson's sonics state of the art. Recommended with highest enthusiasm. - Paul Seydor, The Absolute Sound, December 2021, Music 5/5, Sonics 5/5
Enthralling, vulnerable, and ethereal [with a] classic feel. - Salon
[Barber's] tender approach to the lyrics comes juxtaposed with the fiery edge of her piano playing, in signature Barber fashion. - WBGO
Timeless - WNYC (Sunday New Standards)
Legendary. - WGN
Excellent. - Stereophile
From its Sensurround production to its sympathetic, intuitive musicianship, Clique is as deliciously offbeat as any of Barber's magnetic all-original displays. - JazzTimes
Perceptive, intellectually honest, and, at times, compellingly dark...undeniably and unpretentiously cool. - WRTI, Jazz Album of the Week
Perfect performances and technical brilliance...Clique is a truly outstanding listening experience. - Copper Magazine (PS Audio)
Barber is one of the most important forces in the evolving idiom of jazz - Jazz.FM
A must listen [full of] engineering prowess, amazing vocals, and excellent musicians. - Part-Time Audiophile
If bourbon could sing, it would sound like this. - Ken Kessler, Hi-Fi News Album Choice 2021 - Sound Quality: 95%
...Very transparent. There's a lot of fine detail and the space is very real...There is a sense of physicality and the sound quality sounds very good...Brilliant. - Liu Hansheng, AudioArt
As good as the vinyl sounds cut by Scott Hull at Masterdisk, it only sounds great until you hear the MQA edition through a good DAC. The DXD file sounds better than the disc's DSD layer: cleaner transients, greater transparency, etc. Is this Jim Anderson's best sounding Barber album yet? I don't like to dance on the head of a superlative so let's just say it's a 'you are there' recording. If you're used to the vinyl edition and then hear the DXD version, you'll know from the opening bass line of Lee Hazelwood's 'This Town' that this version is in another class. Barber's voice sounds 'sweet' on the LP. She sounds eerily in your room on the master file. There's a serious uptick in overall transparency and macrodynamic detail and resolution. If you like Patricia Barber you'll love this album of well chosen and interpreted standards with Barber backed by a trio of sympathetic musical souls. The sound of Neal Alger's guitar alone should knock you back in your seat. The same is true of Barber's performances. Her 'One Note Samba', which she sings in Portuguese as a languid meditation is a highlight. - Michael Fremer, Tracking Angle, Music 10/11, Sound 11/11

Features:

• Super Audio CD
• SACD Multi-Channel SACD Layer
• SACD Stereo SACD Layer
• This Hybrid SACD contains a 'Red Book' CD Layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players!
• Full resolution 5.1 surround & stereo mixes
• Recorded by Grammy-winning engineer Jim Anderson in DXD ultra-high resolution (32bit/352.8 kHz)
• Mixed by Jim Anderson at Skywalker Sound
• Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering
• Technical Producer Ulrike Schwarz, Anderson Audio New York
• Recorded using Merging+Clock U Technologies & Music Chords Power Distribution
• Pressed at Sonopress in Germany
• Strikingly designed packaging with never-before-seen photos & engaging essays by Jazz Times' Thomas Conrad, NPR correspondent Susan Stamberg, Jim Anderson & Patricia Barber

Musicians:

• Patricia Barber, piano, vocals
• Jim Gailloreto, saxophone
• Neal Alger, guitar
• Patrick Mulcahy, bass
• Jon Deitemyer, drums

Selections:

1. This Town
2. Trouble Is A Man
3. Mashup
4. One Note Samb
5. I Could Have Danced All Night
6. The In Crowd
7. Shall We Dance
8. Straight, No Chaser
9. All is Fair in Love