BOBBY SHORT At the Cafe Carlyle (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a performance film of probably America's greatest saloon singer, and it deserves some love. Bobby Short died just a couple of months ago at 78. He'd been a long-time fixture at New York's posh Hotel Carlyle, performing nightly six months of the year in the Cafe Carlyle. He had announced his retirement at the end of the season but was still packing them in. I suspect he knew he was dying of leukemia and simply refused to make a big deal of it. It wouldn't have been in his character. As a singer, he was the epitome of style and sophistication without any pretension.
"I think of myself," he says on the DVD, "as a saloon singer, and a good saloon singer must come with everything. He's got to play some jazz and fool around with a ballad and sing a waltz and be a tiny bit risque sometimes and sing a tired old barroom song or sing the song of the day. And I've always liked jazz. I grew up with jazz."
Short played piano and was usually backed up by drums and a bass. He sang songs that were grown up and sophisticated, many of them the great "American Songbook" songs by Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers and the other giants. He found forgotten songs and polished them like jewels. He performed many songs by black composers like Razaf, Ellington and Johnson, some well known, some which had languished in obscurity. This performance DVD, in addition to a good interview, shows him performing one night at the Cafe. He covers a lot of ground, always with style; songs like Why Shouldn't I, Honeysuckle Rose, Four Walls and One Dirty Window, Too Marvelous for Words, Streamlined Lulubelle from Tennessee, The Best Is Yet to Come, Dancing at That Moving Picture Ball, How's Your Romance?, Everybody's Truckin', Old Man Harlem, and many others. The audience in the small room eats it up.
"One of the first lessons one learns in any kind of performance," Short says, "is to get his performance up to a certain level no matter what level the audience is at. They call that professionalism, I suppose. Anything above that is gravy and anything below that is not very good."
Bobby Short was not just a cabaret legend, he was an American treasure, for his style and good spirits, for his talent, and, most of all, for the songs he sang. As far as I know, this is the only significant filmed recording of him in action. The performance is intercut with a well-done interview with him. Short made a fair number of records, and if you're interested I'd recommend the CDs "Mabel Mercer and Bobby Short at Town Hall," "Bobby, Noel and Cole," "My Personal Property," "50 by Bobby Short," and the collections of songs he did on Gershwin, Porter and Rodgers & Hart.
The DVD presentation of the performance is good. The recording of the interview is a little soft. The sound is good.

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Called 'the nations most celebrated cabaret performer' and self-described as a saloon singer, Bobby Short is a veteran of the high-class lounges of New York, Paris, and London. In this remarkable DVD, entitled Bobby Short at the Cafe Carlyle, the renowned singer and pianist, with his legendary repertoire from the greats of Tin Pan Alley, performs a thrilling 25-song set with his usual verve and charm, live from the intimate and elegant setting of the Cafe Carlyle.As we enjoy the impeccable savoir faire of Bobby Short & the Cafe Carlyle, the film also takes us into his home, for an exclusive, intimate look at the man behind the music. No Cover, No Minimum, just You, Bobby Short and the intimacy of the New York Cabaret.New York nightlife, the elegant Cafe Carlyle, Paris, London, Cole Porter, Gershwin, Sondheim... This is the world of singer / pianist Bobby Short, the reigning monarch of the nightclubs of Cafe Society. Performing from his catalog of classic songs, the legendary Bobby Short and his dynamic voice played packed performances at the world-renowned Cafe Carlyle for nearly 50 years. Live from the venue they made famous, this timeless concert DVD features Bobby Short, as well as Beverly Peer on Bass and Gene Gammage behind the drums.Selections Include:1. Four Walls and One Dirty Window Blues written by Willard Robison2. (I Love You) Samantha written by Cole Porter3. Honeysuckle Rose written by Fats Waller and Andy Raza4. When My Sugar Walks Down the Street written by Gene Austin, Jimmy McHugh and Irving Mills5. You're the Cutest One (Satchel Mouth Baby) written by Mary Lou Williams6. Too Marvelous for Words written by Johnny Mercer and Richard Whiting7. Bojangles of Harlem written by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern8. Streamlined Lulubelle From Tennessee written by Benny Davis and John Frederick Coots9. Posin' written by Razaf Denniker10. Everybody's Truckin' written by Fats Waller11. Breakfast In Harlem by Irving Caesar, Sammy Lerner, and Gerald Marks12. Old Man Harlem written by Hoagy Carmichael and Rudy Vallee13. Truckin', Thanks To Harlem Now by Fats Waller14. Why Shouldn't I? written by Cole Porter15. The Best Is Yet To Come written by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh16. New York Is My Personal Property written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields17. How's Your Romance written by Cole Porter18. I'm Satisfied written by Duke Ellington19. Do As The Romans Do written by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh20. On The Amazon written by Vivian Ellis, Clifford Grey, Greatrex Newman21. Dancing At That Moving Picture Ball written by Joseph H. Santly22. Say It Isn't So written by Irving Berlin23. Losing My Mind written by Stephen Sondheim24. Pilote-moi (Pilot Me) written by Cole Porter25. Cuba written by Irving BerlinDVD BONUS FEATURES:Bobby Short BiographyInstant Access to Over 35 Songs & Interview SegmentsDigital Dolby Stereo AudioDigitally Mastered Audio & VideoTrivia & Fun Facts Subtitles

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