Barber learns to deal with her stage fright, fame

Kirk Baird

Friday, June 1, 2001 | 8:28 a.m.

When commenting on jazz singer-pianist Patricia Barber's onstage demeanor, critics often throw out the word "cool," usually in reference to her subdued presence and icy vocal style.

In reality, Barber, who performs Saturday at the County Government Center Amphitheater, is more like a knotted shoelace when in front of an audience, the result of severe stage fright.

"People who have worked with me say it's gotten better over time, and I suppose it has," Barber said recently in a phone interview from her home in Chicago. "There are fewer times now when I completely flip out. But it's always there.

"Here and there I do leave the stage. I'll have to go back and take a breath and say, 'Guys, continue for me.' If I can manage to do that at a strategic time, then it doesn't look like I'm leaving the stage."

Her fear of performing in front of a crowd got so bad, in fact, she said that she thought about giving up playing live altogether.

"But survival kicks in, and I realize I have to make a living," Barber said.

So she deals with the fear the best way she can, by focusing all her attention on the songs as she performs them.

"If I don't keep my mind on the music," Barber said, "I will flip out."

Apparently her method is working; her stage fright hasn't slowed her performance schedule. Even as she discussed it, the sound of zippers closing luggage could be clearly heard as she packed for a five-day trip to Europe to perform.

After that trip, the plan was for her to return stateside and then to Las Vegas, to make her performance debut here.

When asked why she'd never performed in Las Vegas before, Barber said she wasn't sure.

"I have no idea why," she said matter of factly. "(Management) books it, so I guess I never had a good enough offer. I'm not even sure of the venue or where we are playing."(For the record, Barber also was unaware it is a free concert.)

In that respect, it's refreshing to see an artist -- particularly a musician -- whose focus is more on their craft than the business side of their career.

But that's most always been the style of the 46-year-old Barber, who has played piano since age 5 and whose father was a saxophonist and mother was a blues singer.

Even after receiving her first major-label deal in 1992 with Verve's Antilles record label, she left the company after one album and signed with the smaller, independent Premonition Records.

The issue at Antilles was over artistic control -- specifically, that she wanted more of it. At Premonition she got what she wanted, and two years later released "Cafe Blue."

That's all it took.

"Blue" gained Barber the notice of national music critics, who routinely drew comparisons between her and one of her contemporaries, Diana Krall, who also was enjoying newfound acclaim.

But just as Barber's career was taking off, she put it on hold to go back to school. A graduate of the University of Iowa, where she earned a dual degree in classical music and psychology, she began working on a master's in jazz pedagogy at Northwestern University.

"I had been offered a good scholarship, and I was feeling like I needed something different, some inspiration," she said. "And it definitely provided it."

After completing her post-graduate studies, Barber released "Modern Cool" in 1998, which further enhanced her reputation among critics, as well as audiophiles who routinely praised her recording methods and used her CDs during demonstrations for high-end audio equipment.

In 1999 she recorded her first live album, "Companion," and last year released "Nightclub," a 12-song collection of standards, including "Alfie," "You Don't Know Me" and "Bye, Bye Blackbird."

Barber said she had refrained from making an album of standards because she "didn't want to be locked into that category." But in this instance, she said, found the whole process fun, including spending a year deciding which songs to record.

"It's been an integral part of my repertoire for years, standards," she said. "I do them nightly and I love them."

Not surprisingly, given her often modernistic approach to jazz, Barber said she's a fan of pop music -- particularly by such veteran artists as Joni Mitchell and Sting.

"I like the hooks and the way they get people involved and the arrangements," she said. "I like the sophistication of jazz as well. So I like to combine the two sometimes."

But, she is quick to add, "jazz is my favorite music."