Barbara Higbie (born 1958) is an American

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

nominated, Bammy award winning pianist, composer, violinist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has played on over 100 CDs including songs with

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

and

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

. The first female instrumentalist signed to

Windham Hill Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

records, she also recorded solo or duo projects for Olivia/Second Wave records and Slowbaby Records. Higbie is a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, pop, and

fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

composer and singer-songwriter, noted for her highly

melodic A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinat ...

, jazz/folk performances. She has toured nationally and internationally since the early 1980s, and performed with Bonnie Raitt,

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

, Pete Seeger,

The Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary class ...

Jaron Lanier Jaron Zepel Lanier (, born May 3, 1960) is an American computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosophy writer, technologist, futurist, and composer of contemporary classical music. Considered a founder of the field of virtual reality, La ...

Cris Williamson Cris Williamson (born 1947) is an American feminist singer-songwriter and recording artist. She was a visible lesbian political activist, during an era when few who were unconnected to the lesbian community were aware of Gay and Lesbian issues ...

Holly Near Holly Near (born June 6, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, teacher, and activist. Early years Holly Near was born in Ukiah, California, United States, and was raised on a ranch in Potter Valley, California. She was eight years o ...

Teresa Trull Teresa Trull is an American female singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer from Durham, North Carolina. She is recognized as a pioneer in Women's music, with her debut album ''The Ways a Woman Can Be'' released on Olivia Records in 19 ...

and

Ferron Ferron (born Deborah Foisy on 1 June 1952) is a Canadian-born singer-songwriter and poet. In addition to gaining fame as one of Canada's most respected songwriters, Ferron, who is openly lesbian, became one of the earliest and most influential ...

. Born in

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and raised in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, she spent several years as a teenager in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

with her family, while her father, Nathan B. Higbie III helped establish the successful non-profit "Technoserve". Barbara also worked one summer in Honduras, Central America as a medical volunteer with the non-profit, Amigos de Las Americas. Graduating

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

from

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

, she attended the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris, and was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to collect traditional music in West Africa. It was in Paris that she met

Darol Anger Darol Anger is an American violinist and founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Career Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to David Grisman's mando ...

and began a fruitful musical collaboration. Together they recorded the album ''Tideline'' (1982), one of the early successful records of Windham Hill. In 1984, she co-lead a group live album recording at the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

, which then became the successful group "Montreux" with

, Mike Marshall,

Todd Phillips Todd Phillips (né Bunzl, born December 20, 1970) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as ''Road Trip (film), Road Trip'', ''Old School (film), Old School'', ...

, Andy Narrell and

Michael Manring Michael Manring (born June 27, 1960) is an American bass guitarist from the San Francisco Bay Area. Biography Michael Manring was born in Annapolis, Maryland,Tom Mulhern, ''Bass Heroes: Styles, Stories & Secrets of 30 Great Bass Players : from ...

. She recorded a critically acclaimed album titled ''Unexpected'' with singer

in 1983, which was included in ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

s Guide to Best Albums of 1983. Higbie and Trull teamed up again on the 1998 release ''Playtime''. Since 1990, Higbie has released a number of solo albums on the Windham Hill and Slowbaby labels. Her first solo album, 1990's ''Signs of Life'' (Windham Hill Records) was named one of the top ten albums of 1990 by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. She is known as a versatile and soulful musician. Higbie maintains an active touring schedule, both as a solo artist and as a member of the Windham Hill Winter Solstice ensemble. She has performed on all 7 continents and in all 50 states. As of 2019, Higbie is co-chair of the non-profit Board of the Society for the Preservation of Traditional Music (Freight and Salvage) in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. She has served on the board of the Freight on and off since 2005.

Personal life

She resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Partial discography

Solo *1990 ''Signs of Life'' *1996 ''I Surrender'' *2001 ''Variations on a Happy Ending'' *2003 ''Barbara Higbie's Interpretation of Carole King'' *2005 ''Best of'' (1982–2000) *2007 ''Alive in Berkeley'' *2014 ''Scenes from Life'' *2019 ''Resonance'' *2021 ''Murmuration'' With Darol Anger *1982 ''Tideline'' *1984 ''Live at Montreux'' With Teresa Trull *1983 ''Unexpected'' *1998 ''Playtime'' With Montreux *1986 ''Sign Language'' *1988 ''Let Them Say''

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Higbie, Barbara 1958 births Living people Musicians from Indiana Mills College alumni University of Paris alumni Watson Fellows People from St. Joseph County, Indiana Windham Hill Records artists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists Montreux (band) members 21st-century American women