“Barbara Higbie is one of the most exciting musicians I have heard, full of life and brilliant in her playing.”
—Phil Elwood, S.F. Examiner/Chronicle“Instrumentalist, singer, Higbie generated energy and enthusiasm whenever she was on stage, like a jolt of bright sunlight.” —Don Heckman, L.A. Times
“Barbara possesses rare talent and is amazingly versatile.”
—David Grisman“Higbie is a classy talent.” —Jennifer Einhorn, Boston Globe
“Barbara Higbie always seems to be discovering a new side of her talent.”
—Larry Kelp, Oakland Tribune“A real champ of a piano player, Higbie still has loads of the right stuff.” — MidWest Record
MERCURY NEWS REVIEW of Scenes From Life:
A Grammy-nominated composer/pianist/violinist, Berkeley-based Barbara Higbie returns with a new album. And that’s certainly cause for applause. Higbie has recorded with many top artists, including Carlos Santana. She hadn’t released a full-length studio project since she gave birth to a daughter 12 years ago. The listener is drawn in immediately by “Irreducible Mind.” There’s a reflective, cinematic quality to “Variations on a Happy Ending.” “Ewe Tune” has a Vince Guaraldi jaunty feel. “Michael’s Song” offers emotional depth. Kronos Quartet’s cellist Joan Jeanrenaud adds another special musical texture. “Lena’s Dream” is another moving number. “VW Bug” chugs merrily along. The project was initially inspired by an assignment for Higbie to score a film based on Tucker Malarkey’s historical novel, “Resurrection.” The movie has yet to be made, but the composition of that title has a power all its own. And we have an immersive album that tells its own dramatic story. —Mercury News
FAME REVIEW of Scenes From Life:
“My favorite track is VW Bug, which favors a bright, animated, repetitive structure larking about on a sunny summer’s day. It’s followed, however, by the equally interesting Variations on a Happy Ending in which an autumnal shading is discernable, that interim in September in which the air cools, leaves turn, and the last hoorah is had before snow approaches from just over the horizon. Then there are the puzzlers, as in Irreducible Mind, a zen concept well embodied in floating minimalist succinctness, an exercise in austere beauty and gentle enigma…” read more
Copyright 2014, Peterborough Folk Music Society