After touring more than 10 years as a backup singer for folk legend Leonard Cohen and launching a fruitful solo career that scored a Grammy nomination, Perla Batalla returned to her jazz roots early this past summer when she hooked up with renowned pianist/composer Karen Hammack on Lazy Afternoon.
The 11-track album – featuring jazz interpretations of everything from Nat King Cole’s “Nature Boy” to the 1930s jazz standard “The Very Thought of You” – is an endearing collection of what Batalla calls “the soundtrack to my life.”
Batalla and Hammack’s arrangement of Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love” doesn’t jeopardize the jazz of the original version. Instead they translate it into a smooth and sultry classiness á la Tony Bennett, with heavy doses of piano and vocals, making it thoroughly their own while keeping Morrison’s flavor intact.
On the gospel hymns “We Shall Overcome” and “Amazing Grace,” the duo’s compositions prove as unique as the Thelonious Monk-like dissonance Hammack unleashes with memorable piano accents.
Batalla’s valor will continue with a new cycle of songs she’s writing. She hopes to release an album inspired by the art and love story of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera within a year.
“It’s going to be open-form jazz, and it’s developing as we speak,” she says.
Batalla has been visiting museums all over the country to see the artists’ work and has even been painting to try to understand their creative processes. Batalla also wants to represent the politics of the era in the music.
Another thing going on then and now, by way of her Thursday appearance at CSUMB: Her ability to perform everything from traditional Spanish music to the songs of Leonard Cohen. It’s the rare gift that traverses the world while bringing listeners down to Earth.
PERLA BATALLA performs at 7:30pm Thursday, Oct. 18, at the World Theater, CSUMB 100 Campus Center, Building 28, Seaside. $29; $40; $25 military/seniors; $10 CSUMB students. 582-4580.
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