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Barbra Streisand's Abandoned Bon Soir Live Album

If you were a cabaret performer/vocalist in the 1960s with a recording contract, then you released a "live" album.

Writer Norman Grantz said, "It's become the fashion, since the jazz at the Philharmonic concert albums, to record Jazz artists in front of live audiences. Like any other documentary the results can be excellent or, to put it mildly, less than excellent. This trend of recording in the concert hall before live audiences was extended to the nightclubs and it has since become equally fashionable to record an artist, particularly singers, in these caves."

Columbia Records staff photographer Hank Parker snapped these photos of Barbra during her performances at the Bon Soir which were taped. One of his live photos ended up being the cover of Barbra's first album ... a studio album.

Barbra, a big hit in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, was appearing nightly at the Bon Soir. So Columbia felt that a live recording would be the best (and cheapest) way to capture the energy and talent of their new recording star. All that was needed was a remote recording crew and equipment.

Tiger Haynes and the Three Flames backed Barbra. Peter Daniels was her accompanist, and said of the recording: "Columbia refused to spend any money on that date. They insisted we use the musicians who played regularly at the Bon Soir. I didn't want to use Tiger Haynes or the Three Flames. Those guys always got a little something going for a performance, but for an album I felt we needed more."

Tiger Haynes said, "They brought in a paid audience. Streisand had the engineers and technicians come down and record her first show for the rest of the week, through Saturday. Same musicians, same songs, every night. And then Columbia scrapped the whole bunch of tapes and did a studio album instead. But she made sure we got paid."

On November 5, 6, and 7th, 1962 Barbra recorded her first album in front of a live audience at the Bon Soir. Barbra was accompanied by Avril Pollard played bass, Peter Daniels, piano, a drummer, and Tiger Haynes on guitar.

On the first night, Goddard Lieberson introduced Barbra himself:

"For me and everyone at Columbia, she's a singular artist. You can't put her in any category."

After a couple of songs the microphone fuse blew!

"You're kidding?" Barbra said.

It was soon fixed and the performance continued. The next two nights were recorded, too.

Barbra released some of the Bon Soir tracks on her 1991 retrospective Just For The Record (JFTR). The rest remain unreleased by Columbia.

First Show
Keepin' Out of Mischief Now	Barbra speaks through the intro about being able to edit everything later. Of course, her chatter to the audience during the intro made the song unusable, so they did a retake at the end of the performance (see "Retake" below).
A Sleepin' Bee
Come To The Supermarket In Old Peking
I Had Myself A True Love	Included on JFTR. The original unedited track, however, includes a couple more lines of her spoken introduction.
Never Will I Marry
Have I Stayed Too Long At The Fair
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
Nobody's Heart Belongs To Me	Included on JFTR
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf	Included on JFTR. Barbra's ad lib ("Lord!") was edited from JFTR.
Retake - Keepin' Out of Mischief Now	This retake was the first track on JFTR's abbreviated BON SOIR section.


Second Show
My Name is Barbara
Much More
My Honey's Lovin' Arms
Come To The Supermarket in Old Peking
I Hate Music	Included on JFTR
I'll Tell The Man in the Street
Cry Me A River	Included on JFTR
Value
Lover, Come Back To Me
A Taste of Honey
Napoleon *	* see below
Happy Days Are Here Again
Soon It's Gonna Rain

* "Napoleon"

... a great song that Barbra performed at the Bon Soir, but never recorded in the studio (and, to date, has never released!) The song was a natural choice for Barbra, who was a big fan of composer Harold Arlen.

Listen to sample:

music by Arlen; lyrics by Harburg

Napoleon's a pastry
Bismarck is a herring
Alexander's a crème de cocoa mixed with rum
Herbie Hoover is a vac-u-um
Columbus is a circle, and a day off
Pershing is a square, what a pay off
Julius Caesar is now a solid on a shelf
So little brother, get wise to your self
Life's a bowl and it's full of cherry pits
Play it big and it throws you for a loop
That's the way with fate; comes today we're great
Comes tomorrow we're tomato soup
Napoleon's a pastry
Get this under your brow
What once used to be a rooster is a duster now
DuBerry is a lipstick
A Pompadour's a hairdo
A good Queen Mary just floats along from pier to pier
Venus DeMilo is a pink brazier
So Blackstone is a bag, ain't it shocking
and the Mighty Kaiser, just a stocking
The Czar of Russia is now a jar of caviar
Even Cleopatra is a black cigar
Oh yes, my honey lamb
Swift is just a ham
Lincoln's a tunnel; Coolege is a dam!
Yes, my noble lads
Comes today we're fads
Comes tomorrow we're old subway ads
Homer is a swat,
King Jonah, you know what
Get this under your brow
All these big-wheel controversials are just commercials now

Other Recordings Pages:

hungry i Album | Kismet Albums | The Broadway Album (unreleased songs)

Life Cycles of a Woman Album | Quadraphonic Albums | Streisand Unreleased Vaults

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