Photo credit: Maria Baranova

The world premiere of Grammy Award-nominated vocalist, composer, and percussionist, Jodie Landau’s “Performance of Self” on March 15, 2024 at National Sawdust draws attention to improvisation’s empathic heartbeat that is still very much alive. Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects (BMP), Landau’s solo debut show upholds BMP’s midas touch. It showcases Landau as the artist he is right now, while creating a space for him to build upon himself and become even more. Director and production designer Peabody Southwell is also vital for the production’s compassion, awareness, and intelligence. One might agree this “becoming” is just the “beginning” for this collaboration. 

It’s About Time

Timing is everything, and “Performance of Self” reiterated this fact throughout. In fact, there was not a single moment of this performance that felt unaligned with the organic magic that can only happen when time is on your side. The level of profundity that comes with intense practice of awareness, in addition to a supportive creative team that helps find the time, is what demystified this solo show for me, and set it apart from anything I have yet experienced. 

Jodie’s timeline throughout this performance created a beautiful tapestry of autobiographical stories, woven together in support of the fecundity that lies within his own imagination. This interweaving of storytelling, paired with chamber rock compositions, and continual bouts of comic relief, ushered a sense of grace among the guttural blows that the majority of Landau’s stories encompass. “Performance of Self” is the sort of medicinal healing that only music can provide and this emotionally cathartic flow branched out in very real ways, illuminating the gift of Landau’s mastery as both an improviser and collaborator. 

Musical Highlights

The six piece band, including Erika Dohi (Piano/Keys), Jherek Bischoff (Bass), Matt Evans (Drums), Eileen Mack (Clarinets), Darian Donovan Thomas (Violin), and Drew Sensue-Weinstein (Electronics), generated sonic soundscapes ranging from the ethereal to the infinite depths of numbing noise. There was nothing this special group of musicians could not do. The band became a mirror for Jodie (in addition to the actual rotating mirror on stage), in which his interactions with self and the audience perpetuated musical webs of exhilaration, anticipation, nostalgia, transcendence, and play. The opening, “I Haven’t Been Feeling Terribly Poetic,” was a cabaret meets music-theatre moment with Landau’s voice acapella. The musical transition that followed began the web of otherworldly sounds that carried all throughout the show.

Darian Donovan Thomas’ violin glittered in the shadowy midst of everything that stirred below the surface while Matt Evans’ drums suspended wonder in response. There was this playful feeling of musicians awakening in a dreamland together. “Connected to You” featured Jodie’s voice reaching into higher registers with ease and blossoming in just the right places. The whole performance was like listening to a live album being recorded in National Sawdust’s acoustic space. The range of dynamics and refined details sounded incredible.

“Want to But Can’t” came into play when Evans’ drums transitioned into a chamber rock-inspired passage, highlighting the true beauty of what made listening to “Performance of Self” absolutely breathtaking. It stayed the course of a co-creative collaboration the entire time. No one voice, instrument, or ego ever got in the way of simply making beautiful music together. For me, this was the defining factor of improvisation at its finest.

Landau’s voice alternated between amplification modes that included vocoder, headworn, and standing microphones. This alternation made a big difference. His voice was never reduced to just one dynamic. Even when he was his most physically active, especially in his dance tribute to Backstreet Boys, his voice never siloed or detached from his core. In fact, his voice’s physicality was his greatest friend, in addition to the six piece band members who knew intrinsically how to make every moment of “Performance of Self” musically captivating. 

It felt like there was nothing Jodie and the musicians could do wrong when it came to entertaining an audience in mass appeal. Rest assured this style of “entertainment” was not a binding contract of limited “genres.” “Performance of Self” proved the universality of flow that can only stem from intentional group improvisation and good timing. This show effectively made the most out of every single moment and personified the fun that happens along the way when music is made accessible to everyone.

Lifting the Veil

The physicality factor of “Performance of Self” also made this work relevant and refreshing in ways that are often difficult for most live performances to achieve. It is one thing to dance and engage with an audience by taking your mic into the crowd and asking personal questions, but it is quite another to successfully lift the veil that separates the audience from the stage and keep it lifted. “Performance of Self” seemed to ride this very fine line of balance throughout the whole show. For me, I was waiting for that sad moment—one that happens a lot—when the connection fades and the veil reappears. But it never happened. “Performance of Self’s” ingenuity became a never-ending portal where one felt safe, understood, supported, excited, and ultimately relieved to know that something like this work exists. For me, I felt like I could breathe and be myself around everyone else, who were all feeling the exact same. 

While self-awareness absolutely elevates this work to the level of reflection that it is, the real, deciding factor that makes “Performance of Self” more than just a memoir is Jodie’s inexhaustible will towards connection. Making a connection with his listeners is his priority, and this commonality factor is what repeatedly brought everything back together, making it easy for listeners to experience the power of an emotionally intelligent live performance in a safe space.