Live at the Bon Soir

by Barbra Streisand

Overview

Barbra Streisand generated a small but insistent degree of show biz buzz with her star-making role in the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale when she signed with Columbia Records -- one of the biggest and most prestigious labels of the day -- in 1962. Streisand was drawing crowds and charming critics with her appearances at the Bon Soir, a nightclub in New York's Greenwich Village, and Columbia felt capturing her live show might be a good way to introduce her to a larger audience. As it happened, the Bon Soir's acoustics made it difficult to make a properly balanced recording, and after hearing the tapes Columbia's engineers delivered, the label chose to put Streisand in the studio to create a splashier and more sonically controlled recording. The Bon Soir recordings went into the vault, and while bits and pieces were bootlegged over the years, the projected live album didn't materialize until 2022, when advanced spectral editing technology made it possible to give the tapes a better mix. 60 years after it was recorded, Live at the Bon Soir gives us a rare chance to hear Streisand when she was a relatively unknown talent -- a window of time that didn't last long, given the massive success of 1963's The Barbra Streisand Album -- and performing with a remarkable combination of vocal skill, performance savvy, and a youthful delight in the interaction between herself, her musicians, and her audience. (How unknown was she in November 1962? The Columbia executive who introduces her mispronounces her name, unimaginable a year later.) All 11 songs that appeared on The Barbra Streisand Album are included here, along with 12 others. While the studio recordings were given splashy arrangements by Peter Matz, Live at the Bon Soir featured Streisand backed by a modest, skillful quartet led by pianist Peter Daniels; though they lend superb support, they know enough to stay out of her way. Streisand's voice is front and center on Live at the Bon Soir, and it's hard to imagine anything upstaging her. Only 20 years old, Streisand's control of her instrument is already dazzling, and her phrasing and dynamics are remarkably clever and sophisticated; she knows exactly what to do with this material, and delivers a set that nods to cabaret traditions as she puts a fresh and exciting spin on the art of nightclub singing. As polished and expert as she sounds here, there's a sincere giddiness and good humor in her more playful numbers and between-song patter, reflecting the joy of an artist just learning to make her gifts work to her advantage. Streisand's popularity outgrew the confines of a small club with impressive speed, and Live at the Bon Soir documents a very brief moment when she was just learning how to wow an audience. It clearly took very little time for that lesson to take, and this is a glorious archival find. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	03/24/2023
Label:	IMPEX RECORDS
UPC:	0856276002749

Tracks

1. Introduction by Dacid Kapralik - My Name Is Barbra
2. Much More
3. Napoleon
4. I Hate Music
5. Right as the Rain
6. Cry Me a River
7. Value
8. Lover, Come Back to Me
9. Band Introductions
10. Soon It's Gonna Rain
11. Come to the Supermarket (In Old Peking)
12. When the Sun Comes Out
13. Happy Days are Here Again
14. Keepin' Out of Mischief Now
15. A Sleepin' Bee
16. I Had Myself a True Love
17. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
18. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf
19. I'll Tell the Man In the Street
20. A Taste of Honey
21. Never Will I Marry
22. Nobody's Heart Belongs to Me
23. My Honey's Lovin' Arms
24. I Stayed Too Long at the Fair

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Barbra Streisand   Primary Artist
David Kapralik   Primary Artist
Tiger Haynes   Guitar
Johnny Cresci   Drums
Peter Daniels   Piano
Averill Pollard   Bass (Upright)

Technical Credits

Frank Loesser   Composer
Andy Razaf   Composer
Harold Arlen   Composer
Cole Porter   Composer
Jack Yellen   Composer
Frank Churchill   Composer
Fats Waller   Composer
Jeff Harris   Composer
Lorenz Hart   Composer
Jay Landers   Producer,Liner Notes
Joseph Meyer   Composer
Leonard Bernstein   Composer
Johnny Mercer   Composer
Milton Ager   Composer
Tom Jones   Composer
Herman Ruby   Composer
Sigmund Romberg   Composer
Truman Capote   Composer
Paul Blakemore   Mastering
Ted Koehler   Composer
Bobby Scott   Composer
Billy Barnes   Composer
Oscar Hammerstein II   Composer
E.Y. "Yip" Harburg   Composer
Richard Rodgers   Composer
Roy Halee   Engineer
Barbra Streisand   Producer,Liner Notes
Arthur Hamilton   Composer
Harvey Schmidt   Composer
Ann Ronell   Composer
Kim Skalecki   Archivist,Production Supervisor
Adjutor Theroux   Engineer
Jochem van der Saag   Mixing,Mastering
Ric Marlow   Composer
Gabrielle Raumberger   Design,Art Direction
Chris Poppe   Product Manager
Martin Erlichman   Producer
Don Hunstein   Cover Photo,Photography
Mike Berniker   Recording Supervision
Todd Sussman   Note Editing
Brynn Shuller   Photo Restoration