ONE NIGHT ONLY: Barbra Streisand and Quartet at the Village Vanguard [2009 / 2010] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] A Treasured Testament to a Marvellous, Five-decade Career for Barbra Streisand!
In the early 1960's, clubs like The Village Vanguard were scattered throughout Greenwich Village. Now stands alone, the last of its kind.
On the 26th September, 2009, a select group of fans and friends had the rare opportunity to experience Barbra's performance in the ultimate up-close-and-personal setting. Accompanied only by a piano, bass, guitar and drums, this is the artist at her most intimate. The free concert was attended by notables including former President Bill Clinton, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Nicole Kidman and Sarah Jessica Parker among others.
Artist: Barbra Streisand
Director: Scott Floyd Lochmus
Producer: Barbra Streisand, Martin Erlichman, Richard Jay-Alexander and Scott Floyd Lochmus
Cinematography: Roger Grange (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English: 5.1 TrueHD Dolby Digital
English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, French, German and Spanish
Running Time: 90 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Columbia Music Video
Andrew's Blu-ray Review: Adoring fans lined up outside The Village Vanguard on 26th September, 2009, chanting “Barbra, Barbra” as they awaited Barbra Streisand's arrival for a one-night performance. Those attending the event included Nicole Kidman, Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton, Sarah Jessica Parker, and James Brolin, as well as many who have known Barbra Streisand professionally and personally in the years since the start of her career in the early 1960s.
Barbra Streisand returned to The Village Vanguard to perform the songs from “Love Is The Answer” her jazz standards and classics Compact Disc Album in the most intimate setting possible. The Village Vanguard, an epicentre of the New York jazz scene since an all-jazz policy was implemented in 1957, ranks among the most renowned musical venues in the world. During her Village Vanguard concert, Barbra Streisand performed songs from her new album, as well as personal favourites and some surprises, in an extraordinarily warm and powerful set, as the artist and her audience shared an evening filled with music, magic and memories. Several people with connection to Barbra Streisand's early Greenwich Village days appeared to present Barbra Streisand to thunderous applause including Lorraine Gordon, widow of The Village Vanguard's owner, Max Gordon; Rick Edelstein, a waiter at The Village Vanguard who arranged for a then-teen-aged Barbra Streisand's first audition at the venue, and lastly, Marty Erlichman, Barbra Streisand's long-time manager, who was introduced to Barbra by Rick Edelstein in 1961. Backed by a small, tightly-honed band, Barbra Streisand delivered passionate and unforgettable performances.
The last time Barbra Streisand performed in Greenwich Village was in 1962. Styles have changed and those of us who were around then are just a wee bit older. Time has been kind to Barbra Streisand, she looks great and her voice is strong, although more mellow and mature. Barbra Streisand performance at The Village Vanguard was accompanied by piano, bass, guitar, and drums. With a small audience in a small room, Streisand entertains the audience with memories and patter, sometimes speaking directly to audience memories. Thirteen songs from that performance are included on this brilliant awesome Columbia Music Video Blu-ray disc.
Barbra Streisand combined some of her biggest hits “Evergreen;” “The Way We Were;” plus such classics as “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning;” “My Funny Valentine;” “Make Someone Happy;” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and other songs from her repertoire that are not as well known or which she never recorded like “Nobody's Heart [Belongs to Me]” to create a special, fan-pleasing show.
The first four songs are a warm-up to the sensational “If You Go Away (Ne Me Quitte Pas)” in which Barbra Streisand hits her stride. With this song, her audiences bonded with her performance. After more than 40 years, her rendition of “My Funny Valentine” still stirs, and Barbra gives “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” an ironic interpretation and somewhat wistful, somewhat rueful.
With regards to encores, there are some of the strongest song renditions of these songs in years, particularly in the case of the throwback 1970s style version of “The Way We Were” in which Barbra Streisand becomes a twenty-one-year-old wide-eyed activist before our very eyes, once again embodying her character in that classic film. Whereas many performers could be resting on their laurels at this august point, instead, Barbra Streisand is stretching and growing in surprising and affecting new ways not only in her material-selection, but also in her performance style and stage set-up. Barbra Streisand's up-close and personal as never before, and aren't we all the more lucky for it! Has she ever acted a song with such flawless conviction, searing pathos and heart-breaking phrasing and intonation as this “If You Go Away,” written by Jacques Brel. Has she ever had more misty-eyed disaffection, melting into despair and finally coming up for air revealing a sense of optimism and yet not without a tinge of disenchantment, as she does in the Leonard Bernstein ballad to end all ballads that ends this concert, "Some Other Time" with lyrics written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
Lastly, Barbra Streisand has ever seemed so at-ease and comfortable, establishing a winning rapport with the expectedly appreciated audience. It is plain to see Sarah Jessica Parker, James Brolin, Bill & Hilary Clinton, Marilyn & Alan Bergman and Richard Jay-Alexander among many others who were granted the utmost privilege of partaking in this landmark event commemorating an unmatched career on stage, screen and seemingly everywhere else under the sun and moon. Anyone who appreciates artistry as expressed through Barbra's music and lyrics at its absolute finest is well-advised to acquire this exemplary Blu-ray disc as soon as possible. Barbra Streisand the woman is still the Brooklyn girl. She is also still the political activist, campaigning for the Clintons from the stage. Her effusive praise for the entire Clinton family is the introduction to “Evergreen” which is Bill Clinton's favourite Barbra Streisand number.
Blu-ray Image Quality – ‘ONE NIGHT ONLY’ is very well detailed delivery of a 1080p encoded image quality and a respectful 1.78:1 aspect ratio. This is basically a three camera setup capturing a live performance, with the singer and band all clad in black. Black levels are consistent and nicely deep, with good shadow detail. Flesh tones are accurate and the close ups reveal every fly away hair and perfectly manicured nail adorning Ms. Streisand. Some of the cutaways to the audience are surprisingly soft, which I'm assuming is due to the dim lighting of the club and the placement of the minimal stage lights. All in all, there is nothing to really complain about, either and what you are really here to experience is solely the music and an awesome amazing electric atmospheric experience, right?
Blu-ray Audio Quality – ‘ONE NIGHT ONLY’ offers only two tracks, which includes a 5.1 TrueHD Dolby Digital mix and a 2.0 LPCM stereo mix and. Both of these tracks are surprisingly bass heavy, by which I mean the upright bass played by Jeff Carney. This is a mix issue, not a track issue, but forewarned is fore-eared. The good news is both of these offerings have absolutely no distortion whatsoever despite the omnipresent low end, which is frequently punctuated by Jeff Carney's finger plucking. The piano sounds warm and vibrant, and the drums and almost always with brushes and guitar are nicely layered into the overall mix. The 5.1 offers some very nice separation of these instruments, giving a very apt aural illusion of being up on stage with Ms. Barbra Streisand. As for the “girl singer” (as Barbra called jokingly in an introductory comment), Barbra Streisand sounds absolutely gorgeous here, though it sounds to me like after the cracks in the first few tunes, the engineer may have boosted her microphone levels and reverb just a bit. Overall, though, the range of frequencies here is supported admirably.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Village Vanguard Vignette [2010] [1080p] [1.78:1] [6:47] A brief, though very interesting reflection from Lorraine Gordon, who is the owner of The Village Vanguard, reminiscing about the history of the club and her first interactions with Barbra Streisand, and is intercut with little snippets from the Ms. Streisand concert itself. Ms. Lorraine Gordon was well respected for her knowledge of jazz, her championing of young musicians and her passionate advocacy for the art form. In 2013 the National Endowment for the Arts bestowed on her America’s most prestigious honour for jazz: the Jazz Master award for lifetime achievement. Lorraine Gordon, queen of the Village Vanguard and jazz music advocate and owner of New York’s most celebrated club died on the 19th June, 2018.
BONUS: A very nice eight page colour supplement that gives you a lot more detail and information about the Greenwich Village and The Village Vanguard concert. Jay Landers, who is an A&R man, songwriter and publisher JAY LANDERS works in many genres of music – with traditional vocalists, classical-crossover artists, pop, rock, urban and country singers, classical, comedy, and children’s music, Original Broadway Cast albums and Motion Picture Soundtracks, writes an in-depth account of the concert of Barbra Streisand and is dedicated to his friend Gareth Wigan.
Finally, ‘ONE NIGHT ONLY: Barbra Streisand and Quartet at the Village Vanguard’ is for sure to please die-hard Streisand fans with its mix of music and nostalgia. What can you say about a singer as legendary as Barbra Streisand that hasn't already been said? Despite being well ensconced in her age, she still retains a remarkably supple and expressive voice. She's at ease and mostly engaging in this hour-plus evening, and it's easy to overlook the occasional vocal problems when you're offered the opportunity to get this up close and personal with one of the all-time greats of contemporary music. Though the concert is sadly only 90 minutes, this Blu-ray is recommended to all fans and even casual listeners. It's an interesting trip through the Great American songbook, with a detour or two through international waters, and it returns Streisand to the lounge roots where her career took flight almost 50 years ago. Appropriately, Barbra Streisand closed her set with the son “The Way We Were,” and we say ah, what wonderful memories. For those who could not of attended the 2009 September Barbra Streisand and Quartet at The Village Vanguard Concert is wonderfully captured atmospheric of what it was actually like to have been there to see Barbra Streisand up-close-and-personal when Barbra Streisand was just a slip of a girl singer performing at The Village Vanguard and other Greenwich Village supper clubs in the 1960's. And that is why I am so proud to have this beautiful Barbra Streisand Blu-ray disc, as you will experience something totally unique and extra special, which will give you many hours of viewing enjoyment and I cannot praise this brilliant Blu-ray disc enough and that is why it is a great honour to add this to my ever increasing Barbra Streisand Blu-ray Collection. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
