“Memories, there are too many to count,” Barbra Streisand said on video at an all-star concert celebrating the life of lyricist Alan Bergman on Thursday (Sept. 11) at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Calif. You can see what she did there, opening her personal tribute to two of her closest colleagues and friends with the opening word of “The Way We Were,” their most famous song (and her first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100).
Streisand said she first met Alan and his wife Marilyn Bergman in 1960 when she was just 18, performing at a tiny club, the Bon Soir, in Greenwich Village. She was just starting out. They had already achieved success, co-writing “Nice ’N’ Easy,” a hit that year for Frank Sinatra.
“We had been close friends for 62 years when (Marilyn) passed three years ago.” Streisand said. Streisand recorded 63 songs by the Bergmans, including another of her No. 1 Hot 100 hits, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” – a 1978 duet with Neil Diamond – and an entire 2011 tribute album, What Matters Most – Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan & Marilyn Bergman,which received a Grammy nomination for best traditional pop vocal album.
“We all became a family,” Streisand said. She noted that Marilyn “was a mother figure to me,” and that Alan “made all women, including me, feel safe and seen.”
This concert event was originally planned as a 100th birthday celebration for Alan Bergman – yesterday would have been his 100th birthday. It pivoted to a celebration of his life after he died on July 17. Comedian Paul Reiser, a long-time friend of the Bergmans, hosted. Trey Henry served as musical director. Musicians included Mitch Forman, Peter Erskine, Greg Phillinganes, Bob Sheppard, Bill Cantos, Jason Crosby, Serge Merlaud, Tamir Hendelman, Shelly Berg and David Finck.
The event also included video messages from Bill Charlap and Pat Metheny. Bergman finished writing the lyrics to nine Metheny tunes for an upcoming album shortly before he passed.
The Bergmans are best-known for writing exquisite ballads such as “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,” “Pieces of Dreams” and “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?,” but they couldn’t be typecast. They also wrote witty and zesty theme songs for such TV series as Maude, Good Times and Alice.
The Bergmans won three Academy Awards, three Grammys (including song of the year for “The Way We Were”), four Primetime Emmys and two Golden Globes. They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and received that organization’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 1997. They received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 2013.
Not a word of this was mentioned in the concert program, or even in the printed program that was handed out at the event. When songs are this good, and talent this evident, you don’t need the hype.
Here are the seven best moments from “Celebrating the Extraordinary Life of Alan Bergman,” followed by a full set list. They are listed in the order they appeared in the show.
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Aloe Blacc Shines on a Ray Charles Classic
Image Credit: Lester Cohen/Getty Images Aloe Blacc did an excellent job on the bluesy “In the Heat of the Night,” which the Bergmans co-wrote with Quincy Jones for the 1967 Oscar winner for best picture. Ray Charles sang the original version, which became a top 40 hit on the Hot 100. The song showed the Bergmans’ range. Though best-known for highly literate pop/adult contemporary ballads, they could excel in other styles. (They demonstrated that again on their streetwise lyric for the theme song to Good Times – not performed here, unfortunately).
Blacc, who had a pair of top 10 Hot 100 hits in 2013-14 (Avicii’s “Wake Me Up!,” on which he was featured, and his own “The Man”) made a very strong impression. To paraphrase Taylor Swift in her recent lyric about Charlie Puth, I declare Aloe Blacc “should be a bigger artist.”
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Patti Austin and Jason Gould Nail It on (Probably) the Bergmans’ Best Song
Image Credit: Lester Cohen/Getty Images What’s the Bergmans’ best song? That’s impossible to say, but very high on the list would be “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” which they co-wrote with Michel Legrand for the 1982 Burt Reynolds/Goldie Hawn movie Best Friends. (That would probably also top the list of famous songs that originated in barely-remembered films.) Austin recorded the version heard in the film with the late James Ingram. She sang it here with Jason Gould, whose mother, Barbra Streisand, recorded it for her 2003 album The Movie Album. Austin is a superb (and under-heralded) singer. Gould admirably kept up with her.
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Michael Feinstein Scores Twice
Feinstein excelled on another of of the Bergmans’ best songs, “Where Do You Start?,” a song about a break-up and how hard it is to separate two lives that have become entwined. (It was a work of projection on their part, because they had, by all accounts, a happy and stable marriage.) The Bergmans co-wrote the song with composer Johnny Mandel. Streisand included it on her 2009 album Love Is the Answer, which topped the Billboard 200.
Later in the show, Feinstein sang “Nice ’N’ Easy,” which, as he noted, was the Bergmans’ first big hit. The Bergmans co-wrote the song with Lew Spence, who is credited with introducing the couple. Frank Sinatra’s original version reached the Hot 100; his album of the same name topped the Billboard 200 for nine weeks in 1960, longer than any of his other albums. The song brought the Bergmans their first of four Grammy nods for song of the year.
“Nice ’N’ Easy” extols the virtues of taking it slow in a romance. As with most Bergman songs, the lyric is smart and witty: “We’re on the road to romance/ That’s safe to say/ But let’s make all the stops along the way/ The problem now of course is/ To simply hold your horses/ To rush would be a crime/ ‘Cause nice and easy does it every time.”
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Tierney Sutton Sings a Prized Pair of Bergman Classics
Image Credit: Lester Cohen/Getty Images Jazz singer Tierney Sutton, a nine-time Grammy nominee, shined on “Like a Lover” and “So Many Stars,” a pair of songs that were popularized by Sérgio Mendes & Brasil 66, with Lani Hall on lead vocals, in the late 1960s. The Bergmans co-wrote “Like a Lover” with Dorival Caymmi and Nelson Motta, and “So Many Stars” with Mendes. Both songs appeared on the genre-blending ensemble’s 1967 album Look Around.
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Jackson Browne Sings “What Matters Most”
Image Credit: Lester Cohen/Getty Images The veteran artist sang “What Matters Most,” which the Bergmans co-wrote with Grusin. Browne has probably performed on hundreds of multi-artist concert programs and benefits over the past 50+ years, but mostly in his rock world. For him to participate in this more pop-oriented event showed the range of his tastes and friendships. (The concert benefited The Jazz Bakery, where Bergman served as a founding board member.)
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Dave Grusin on a Song Written “Almost by Accident”
Dave Grusin told a great story about how an A-list songwriter (who he politely did not name, though wouldn’t you love to know?) was supposed to come up with a song for the 1982 film classic Tootsie. At the eleventh hour, the writer confessed that he had come up dry. So, Grusin and the Bergmans wrote “It Might Be You” on very short notice. Grusin said he wrote the melody in one day; the Bergmans took two days to write the lyric.
The bittersweet song, with its yearning quality, was perfect for the scene. Stephen Bishop’s recording, which Grusin produced, made the top 30 on the Hot 100. The song brought the Bergmans an Oscar nomination – one of three they received that year, which set a record which still stands for the most nominations by any songwriter in that category in any one year.
The song was performed at the concert by Patti Austin with Grusin and Lee Ritenour.
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Sheléa Closed the Show With “A Piece of Sky”
It’s easy to see why such heavyweights as Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones and David Foster have championed Sheléa. She has a powerful voice, as she proved on “A Piece of Sky,” the go-big-or-go-home closing song from Streisand’s 1983 passion project Yentl. The Bergmans co-wrote the song with Michael Legrand. Their work on the film brought them an Oscar for original song score or adaptation score.
Sheléa also shared advice she received from the Bergmans: “Have the courage to do the music that you want to do.” Words to live by.
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The Set List
“The Windmills of Your Mind,” Alan Bergman (on video)
“That Face,” Seth MacFarlane
“The Love of Your Life,” Seth MacFarlane
“In the Heat of the Night,” Aloe Blacc
“How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” Patti Austin & Jason Gould
Pat Metheny memories (video)
“Where Do You Start?,” Michael Feinstein
“Fifty Percent,” Lillias White
“Love Makes the Changes,” Aloe Blacc
“Like a Lover” / “So Many Stars,” Tierney Sutton
“What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,” Michel Legrand (on video)
“What Matters Most,” Jackson Browne
“He Was Cool,” Lilias White
“We the People,” Nayanna Holley
“It Might Be You,” Patti Austin with Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour
“Happy Birthday,” Dave Grusin
“Nice ‘n Easy,” Michael Feinstein
Barbra Streisand memories (video)
“I Believe in Love,” Kenny Loggins with Hunter Hawkins
“A Piece of Sky,” Sheléa
