Patricia Barber – Companion (2 LP)

Remastered for vinyl by Doug Sax

180-gram double LP pressed by Quality Record Pressings!

A Stereophile Recording of the Month!

“Barber creates an artful blend of lyrics and music, framed in a literary perspective, for delivery as jazz performance. Remarkable.” — Los Angeles Times

“A singer who takes romance seriously.” — New York Times

Companion is a June 1999 live recording from the stage of Chicago’s historic Green Mill Jazz Club. Barber’s Companion was a record of firsts for Barber and Premonition. First recording of Barber’s legendary live show. First release under the Blue Note/Premonition joint imprint, the only such business arrangement in Blue Note’s storied history. Designed as a ‘companion’ to Barber’s previous studio recording Modern Cool, the album features several reinvented Modern Cool tracks, some of the best Barber pop covers on record and one ingenious new Barber original. Remastered for vinyl by the great Doug Sax from the original analog master mixes and featuring three sides at 33 1/3 and one side at 45 RPM so that listeners get the full original release plus two bonus tracks and can enjoy the opportunity to compare Sax’s mastering to that of Mobile Fidelity’s 2002 LP version. Without doubt, listeners will be impressed. A stunning recording — an audiophile favorite since it’s 1999 release — given new life by one of the great mastering engineers of our time.

Recording engineer Jim Anderson used 32 microphones for the session, including four omni-directional mics for audience and “room” sound, which he routed through John Hardy M-1, Class A discrete microphone preamps to four linked 8-track Studer 24-bit ADAT recorders powered by noise-canceling balanced line conditioners. Anderson mixed to a Studer 2-track, half-inch analog deck with Dolby SR noise reduction.