Another of my favorite people passed on

[bigguyinpasadena]

Mr.Bobby Short,an icredibely elegant and urbane gentleman,and song stylist extrodiniare has passed on.

Thank you Mr.Short for hours upon hours of entertainment and education.

[Guest Dan]

>Mr.Bobby Short,an icredibely elegant and urbane gentleman,and

>song stylist extrodiniare has passed on.

>Thank you Mr.Short for hours upon hours of entertainment and

>education.

 

Indeed he was such a New York institution, that there's an additional sadness like the closing of the automat (hmm, in this case, let's make that Le Cirque or the Russain Tea Room.) They are such a part of the city that it doesn't seem right for them to be gone not does anyone remember a time when they weren't there.

 

Dan Dare

http://male4malescorts.com/reviews/dandarela.html

[Guest alanm]

Bobby Short was an amzing singer who was the last of a bread --- a male singer who performed almost exclusively in one very upscale NY night club for close to forty years. Sadly, his death has caused little notice except in NY's Upper East side.

 

That's a shame, because Short was much more than just the pet of rich white society ladies. He championed songwriters from Cole Porter to Duke Ellington; few sang their songs better. Short could sing and play jazz with the best of them.

 

I saw him very occasionally when he sang one song at Carnegie Hall tributes. I never had any desire to see him at his fancy supper club.

He never changed with the times like Lena Horne, who moved freely from the movies to nightclubs to Broadway. Bobby Short's career couldn't have been further from his almost exact contemporaries, Tony Bennett and the late Rosemary Clooney. Too bad.

[trilingual]

And so passes another beacon of class, style and taste in the benighted U.S. of A. Is there anyone left to carry the torch? I can't think of any, off-hand. Now we're left with the Donald (and the various big-haired Mrs. Trumps), Martha Stewart, and the Bushes as the epitome of American taste. Please pass the Emetrol! (In fact, you may need to roll up a tanker truck of the stuff to prevent mass barfing!)

[+ deej]

Was the USA bashing necessary?

[trilingual]

I wasn't bashing the U.S.A. I was mourning the passing of an era when America admired figures who reflected elegance and sophistication. Once upon a time (not so long ago) our idols included people like Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy. And Bobby Short! Now we've been reduced to the lowest common denominator. . .

[elikimball]

I was lucky enough to have seen Bobby Short many times over the years. A consummate entertainer and musician. He OWNED the American Songbook and performed it like no one else. My favorite memory: New Year's Eve at the Carlyle in 1973. At the stroke of midnight, instead of "Auld Lang Syne" he sang "As Time Goes By". It doesn't get any better than that! Fortunately, his talent and class has been responsible for energizing the Cabaret tradition in Manhattan. There are many great performers who owe their careers to him. His style took us back to a glittering, sophisticated age when adults dressed up in their finest and left behind the cares of the day. He will indeed be missed.

[bigguyinpasadena]

I was very fortunate to have seen him a few times in SF,and in LA at small clubs where music is respected.

"For all we know-we may never meet again...."

[happyguy2]

I could not agree more that we have lost so much in Bobby Short's death. I could have listened to him for hours, and I am in my mid-forties. But my parents got me interested in all kinds of music and plays - they brought me to my first Broadway show when I was eight.

 

Bobby Short and Rosemary Clooney sang the style of music they enjoyed most. So, I did hear him at the Carlysle, every once in a while over the years, with them.

 

You ask "Who will pick up the torch?" This is a great question, so I ask anyother one in return: Have you heard Michael Finestein (spelling?). He has a club in Manhattan which I went to with some family not long ago. He started out as the curator for one of the Berlins and blossomed into a fine entertainer, who was an adopted son of Rosemary Clooney.

 

Seek him out, he has many CD's - and let me know what you think

 

hg

[happyguy2]

Sorry guys for mistake in my previous post. The correct spelling is Michael Feinstein.

 

He is also very classy and an attractive personality, in addition to what I consider, a smooth voice!

 

hg

[trilingual]

Maybe there's a glimmer of hope. I had forgotten about Michael Feinstein. Barbara Cook is still with us, too, as well as a handful of other singers who admire the Great American Songbook, like Bernadette Peters and Linda Ronstadt, and who are capable of delivering these songs with grace and style. . .

[happyguy2]

Tri, u r so right!

 

...and what strikes me, is that each of them is a truly beautiful and authentic personality.

 

This post brings back such happy memories of my exposure to the Great American Song Book.

 

When I went to my first play on broadway, a day after hearing Bobby Short, my parents said little to prepare me, other than "take a nap, you're going to be up till after midnight tonight"... and strangely, that night I believed them.

 

Into the theater we went, and within seconds I was all caught up, with the orchestra (as I was studying music and learning to read orchestral arrangements - at age 8!) and the actors who SANG, and the feeling in the room..... etc....

 

And then we left. It had been bright out in the early evening as we entered the theater. In a flash, it was 10:30 and we walked out into the street, bright as though it was noon.

 

I tell you, the rush I felt with thousands of people rushing in every dircetion, will remain with me till the day I die.

 

A little off topic, but, in a strange way, you see, every time I went to the Carlysle and heard Bobby Short, I remembered that night ... and the parents who are no longer with us either....

 

hg

[JT Brooklyn]

I also remember he was a Good Friend of Gloria Vanderbilt, whose support as a friend, was of great help to him over the years. It was not easy moving into the "Social Circles" of the Upper East Side originally for him. Then over the years at the "Carlyle" the Social Circle revolved around his great Music... :+ :+ :+

[+ deej]

Linda Ronstadt has my unending gratitude for coaxing Nelson Riddle out of retirement one last time.

 

Maureen McGovern is still crooning, and Harry Connick Jr. has been known to put out some decent Amercian Songbook. It ain't going anywhere.

 

All this "end of an era" talk has me wondering if Mozart's contemporaries expected his music to die with him. :9

[foxy]

Several years ago on a Fall afternoon I was walking through the West Village. Up the street I saw Bobby Short walking with another man. Across the street was a garbage truck with sanitation workers emptying garbage cans into the truck. As Mr. Short approached, one of the workers yelled "Hey, Bobby Short!". Mr. Short walked over, shook the guy's hand (which was not too clean I suspect) and stood there talking to him as I walked by. I thought that was real class!

I also thought it was pretty terrific that he had a sanitation worker as a fan. He wasn't just an entertainer of the rich.

[trilingual]

>All this "end of an era" talk has me wondering if Mozart's

>contemporaries expected his music to die with him. :9

 

Actually, I think many of them did. The music of Mozart and other composers we now think of as "classical" composers was part of the popular music of the day. In the days before music could be reproduced electronically, the only way "average" people could enjoy music was to play it themselves, and there was a great industry in sheet music. Many of the pieces the classical composers wrote may have been commissioned by princes and aristocrats (especially pieces requiring large performance groups) but they rapidly found their way into the homes of the bourgeoisie and common people through sheet music. Besides the infinite number of pieces composed for small chamber groups or solo instruments that could easily be performed in homes, many of the larger pieces also received transcriptions for piano or small groups that could be reproduced in home environments. Operas were the musical theater of the day, and the hits pieces and tunes were rapidly on everyone's lips.

 

Given that "classical" music was also the popular music of its day, it's only natural that styles and tastes changed over time, and older pieces fell out of favor as newer composers came along. This isn't to say that they were totally forgotten, but they were no longer popular favorites and became known more by specialists. Earlier works simply dropped out of the repertory as new styles emerged and older ones lost favor with the ticket and sheet-music buying public.

 

Occasionally, there were revivals of interest in older styles, but it was really only in the 20th Century that some of the earlier styles and composers came to widely appreciated again. So, as you can see, many of Mozart's contemporaries would have expected his music to die with him, or at least when the style in which he composed lost its popularity. And, in fact, that's what happened. Mozart wasn't widely played in the 19th Century, as I understand it, and it wasn't until the Glyndebourne festivals began in the 20s or 30s of the last century that there was a widespread revival of interest in Mozart's operas, for example.

[Guest rohale]

I've waited two weeks to feel really comfortable in adding my piece to this thread. Even now at this very second, I find it very difficult to put my thoughts into words without feeling wanting to cry. I've sad my farewells in other arenas and I'm going to basically keep matters in general terms on this particular post. I had the great honor and privilege of a lifetime to have worked for Mr Short almost nine years ago now. I had just moved to New York in early 1996 and I already had a lucrative day job lined up. Music is something that I've always done on the side. The way I met Bobby Short was by chance. It was done through third parties. He took an instant liking to me despite my age and I was onboard.

 

It was tremendous fun to have worked for him part-time in prime time. The first time I saw him play the piano, I knew he was going to be good before he even played a single note, because of the way he was positioning his hands on the keys. I have some wonderful memories from that time frame. I knew him as a fan onstage and as his colleague and friend offstage. He was a true gentleman, he approached his work with dedication, integrity and honesty. He was never propietorial in terms of what he knew in advance. He listened to suggestions and ideas to improve a composition. He was very much into songs structures. He felt affection for songs that he wanted to get across to his audience. He was very much devoted to the American Song Book.

 

He liked working with various musicians and he especially loved drummers. When I play the drums, I like to use odd time signatures as opposed to 4/4, which is a very standard time signature. Most drummers do fabulous work in 4/4, too easy. When I worked with Mr Short. I couldn't think of what I could add that was interesting in that department. Even to this day, I find the odd meters to be very much uncovered territory in both rock and jazz. If my memory serves me correctly, I think David Brubeck and his quartet might have used the odd signature when they worked with Mr Short back in the late 60's. A bit before my time. For Shorty, I was literally the first person in over 25 years that he worked with using an old varying format. He really got into it. My input in his work grew and he liked what I brought to the table. I worked for him for seventeen months.

 

I really had the time of my life. It wasn't always a pleasure to have to go home. We played cards on most nights and I will say this much, he used to tell some wonderful stories. He knew all the greats and he definitely had fond memories of his old friend Satchmo. He always had that eye of the tiger expression on his face. I'll say this much about Mr Short, he never had an ego, he never had any hidden agenda. He was honest to the bone. He had the heart of a teddy bear. He was full of vitality and so much energy he brought to life and work everyday. He treated his musicians like family and something that still touches my heart to this day. I thought the world of him. He was terribly funny and a wit and style that is very much unsurpassed.

 

Look after I had left New York, we still kept in touch. Whenever I was up in the big apple, I always managed to find time for him. Last time I saw him was in late February, always a pleasure to see him. I spoke to him on the phone ten days before he died. When I got the phone call, I had a hard time keeping focus for the rest of the day. I lost one of the great ones to have entered my life. From a professionaly point of view, the biggest disappointment for me is that the fans will neve get to seem him perform at the Montreux Festival later this year. We had talked long and hard about meeting up in Switzerland for this festival. Unfortunately it's not going to happen.

 

I will end this post on this brief note. Music is a very competetive business. Despite the nature of the business, he cared more for the quality of work than the quantity sold. His musicians were treated as family. His favorite occupations he listed as writing, talking and drinking and in each he could compete with the best. He earned a unique place in the world of entertainment. He was my friend, my family, my mentor and one hell of a guy. I will miss him dearly.

 

Rohale

 

 

P.S. BigGuy, I'm very grateful to you for doing this thread. On an emotional level, it means a lot to me. Thank you very much for your kind words and all the other comments as well.

[BigK]

Rohale,

 

Your beautifully written post brought a tear to my eye too. ;( :-)

[1sf]

A sweet story, indeed.

[BobbyB]

>And so passes another beacon of class, style and taste in the

>benighted U.S. of A. Is there anyone left to carry the torch?

 

How about Michael Feinstein? I think he does an outstanding job in that category.

 

-BobbyB