MINNPOST ARTSCAPE
An encore performance of last October’s CD release by what at first seemed an unlikely pairing, then made perfect sense. Osowski, a mezzo-soprano with a growing international reputation, teamed with composer and jazz pianist Jeremy Walker for an album of all-original jazz art songs. The recording is sublime, but the best way to experience “Haunted Blue” is live. This time, Osowski and Walker will share behind-the-scenes stories about their collaboration. 6 p.m. FMI and tickets ($20). Sunday at the Dakota: Clara Osowski and Jeremy Walker: “Haunted Blue” featuring Anthony Cox.
We spoke with Osowski in October
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Photo: Clare Nieto
STAR TRIBUNE BEST CLASSICAL CONCERTS
A second haunting
“Haunted Blue” is a set of art songs by Minneapolis jazz musician Jeremy Walker, set to texts by Walt Whitman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Greg Foley. Walker wrote them specifically for mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski. Together, they made a recording and successfully premiered the cycle last October. The Dakota hosts an encore performance, this time with the artists sharing behind-the-scenes stories about the project. (6 p.m. Sun., Dakota, Mpls.; $20, 612-332-5299 or dakotacooks.com) TERRY BLAIN
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Photo: Clare Nieto
STAR TRIBUNE BEST OF THE WEEK
Obsessively boundary-breaking and uncompromisingly literate, Chicago singer/songwriter/pianist Patricia Barber decided that jazz can accommodate relatively short songs. So she wrote some art songs, got Renee Fleming to sing them in concert as a song cycle and now has released her own versions on “Higher,” her first new album in six years. She’ll perform with bassist Patrick Mulcahy and drummer Jon Deitemyer. J.B. 7 & 9 p.m. Thu. The Dakota, Mpls. $25-$35, dakotacooks.com.
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Photo: Jimmy Katz
CITY PAGES THE WEEK’S BEST CONCERTS
Patricia Barber Trio @ Dakota
A singer, pianist, and composer of rare dimension and subtlety, Chicago-based Patricia Barber edges her music, sublimely grounded in jazz, in unpredictable directions. Her maroon voice, lyrical keyboard work, and brooding melodies all harbor mysteries compounded by enigmatic lyrics. Higher, her first album in six years, fuses art song, jazz, and classical in an eight-song cycle, “Angels, Birds, and I…,” and adds three simpatico covers. The theme is singers’ intrinsic relationship to music, which she addresses elliptically, metaphorically, and humorously, seducing the muse with quietly dazzling harmonic colors. 7 & 9 p.m. $25—$35. 1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis. More info here.—Rick Mason
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STAR TRIBUNE REVIEW: JOAN OSBORNE
‘One of Us’ hitmaker Joan Osborne brings Bob Dylan birthday salute to Minnesota
If Joan Osborne were one of us, she might have known that snowshoes were needed this week in Duluth.
But she’s just another famous vocalist who came to Minnesota on the bus to sing the songs of our most celebrated living songwriter, Bob Dylan.