NewYorkFirst.com: Legendary Bobby Short

Appreciating Bobby Short.

He was the tuxedoed embodiment of New York style, the Astaire of saloon singers. Over 37 years, Bobby Short became a New York landmark, holding forth at the Cafe Carlyle, a posh, cave-like club in The Carlyle Hotel on Manhattan's fashionable Upper East Side. His cool, elegant, yet passionate interpretations of classic songs personified an earlier era of sophistication and grace. Over the years, Mr. Short transcended the role of cabaret entertainer to become a New York institution and a symbol of civilized Manhattan culture.

Portrait of a Troubadour.
A treat for long-term aficionados, this book offers a vivid picture of what it was like to be young, talented, and black in the nightclub world of the thirties, forties, and early fifties. It relates in detail Bobby Short’s triumphant longtime tenure at the Hotel Carlyle, as he shares his encyclopedic knowledge of show tunes and supper club songs along with the quintessential New Yorker’s love affair with his town. Previously-owned 1995 First Edition.

Beginning of a Legend.
Like many prominent New Yorkers, he was not a son of the city. Bobby Short was born in Danville, Illinois, in 1924, and in this rare 1971 memoir he records the history of the town, his memories of it in the Depression years of the 1930s, and his entrance into show business as a child performer. That once-upon-a-time little boy from Danville would later be listed in the New York Social Register. Fascinating stuff. Rare, previously-owned First Edition.

Quintessential New York.
A must for anyone in love with the romance of New York, or at least the way it used to be. It’s easy to imagine living in a penthouse high above Central Park, stirring martinis, when listening to these performances, especially the slow tempo of "Autumn in New York," which never fails to move you back to a slower, simpler and more peaceful time. The set is perfectly recorded to reflect the intimate nature of the Carlyle itself. Each song is met with loving applause from the audience. You can almost imagine you are there, a few feet from the stand, enjoying a drink in the dark with that special someone.

Includes: New York, New York (It's a Helluva Town), Penthouse Serenade, She's a Latin from Manhattan, Autumn in New York, Manhattan, East Side of Heaven, When Love Beckoned (In Fifty-Second Street), Way out West on West End Avenue, Black Butterfly/Harlem Butterfly, My Personal Property, Broadway, Sidewalks of New York, Take Me Back to Manhattan, Upper Madison Avenue Blues

No Cover. No Minimum.
Cafe Carlyle, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is one of the most distinctive jazz venues around. Join Bobby for his urbane flair on vocals and piano, infusing his unmistakable brilliance into 15 gems. You can listen to this CD a hundred times and hear new aspects each time.

Includes: C'est Magnifique, I Love You, Samantha, You Do Something to Me, You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, Only Another Boy and Girl, I Concentrate on You, So Near and Yet So Far, Can-Can, I've Got You Under My Skin, You're Sensational, What Is This Thing Called Love?, In the Still of the Night, You're the Top, We Shall Never Be Younger, Love of My Life

He’s the Top.
Whereas he is the quintessence, the top, the Coliseum, the Louvre Museum, this is the world of Bobby Short, who reigned as the monarch of the nightclubs of Café Society. Join Bobby at the Café Carlyle for this thrilling 25-song set, radiating from the tiny stage. He also invites us into his home, for an exclusive and intimate look at the man behind the music.

Includes: Four Walls and One Dirty Window Blues, I Love You, Samantha, Honeysuckle Blues, When My Sugar Walks Down the Street, You.re the Cutest One, Too Marvelous for Words, Bojangles of Harlem, Streamlined Lulubelle From Tennessee, Posin', Everybody's Truckin', Breakfast In Harlem, Old Man Harlem, Truckin', Thanks To Harlem Now, Why Shouldn't I?, The Best Is Yet To Come, New York Is My Personal Property, How's Your Romance, I’m Satisfied, Do As The Romans Do, On The Amazon, Dancing At That Moving Picture Ball, Sat It Isn't So, Losing My Mind, Pilote-moi (Pilot Me), Cuba