BURT BACHARACH
AT BRECON JAZZ
In the run up to this year’s Brecon Jazz Festival Laura
Riley kicks back and has a chat with its headliner:
the iconic singer-songwriter Burt Bacharach.
B
urt Freeman Bacharach is an American
songwriter, composer, record producer,
pianist and (sometimes) singer. He’s
won six Grammy Awards, three Academy
Awards, and has a back catalogue of hit songs
spanning 60 years with countless big-name artists
– but I’m sure you already knew that. That’s the
incredible thing about Bacharach’s music – even if
you can’t place the artist singing, you’ll know all of
the words, and you’ll know it’s one of his songs.
I’m a big Bacharach fan – like huge – and I’m not
ashamed to say that speaking to him about his
career totally trumped the excitement I felt on my
wedding day (sorry husband!). He’s a musical legend
who’s been compared to composer Cole Porter and
lauded as the greatest songwriter of all time. He’s
also surprisingly (and delightfully) humble about
everything he’s achieved.
“When did I know that I wanted a career in music?
Last year maybe – I just sort of started playing music
and then I was conducting for Marlene Dietrich.”
He’s joking of course, but his success didn’t happen
overnight. He was 30 years old before he achieved his
first real taste of success with his breakthrough song
The Story Of My Life.
“With music it’s more ‘when did you become
successful and reach the turning point when you
could just write music’. That certainly wasn’t at the
beginning. I thought writing songs was easy but it
wasn’t – it was very hard. What I thought the public
might like were terrible songs.”
Numerous musical stars are mentioned during our
interview, and it’s on a first name only kind of affair.
From the way he describes them, you’d swear Dionne
(Warwick) and Aretha (Franklin) were old friends
of yours too – which in a way, thanks to his songs,
they are.
“When we’re writing for a singer I’m hearing that
singer, so if Aretha’s going to record then I’m trying
to hear what she might sound like. Of course with
Dionne we wrote so many songs that I could just
tailor the music like a piece of clothing to encase
her in. I could always hear where she could go and
what notes would sound right. When you know your
singer, you can tailor make it. I think that’s important
– when you don’t have a singer in mind you’ll be
surprised when you get to the studio.”
Perhaps that’s why Burt found the recording of
his favourite song trickier than most? “Picking a
favourite song, pushed to the wall it would be Alfie.
I’ll always remember when they flew me over from
the states to record with Cilla (Black).”
Anyone who’s seen the YouTube video of the
recording of Alfie will be certain that Cilla won’t
have forgotten it either. This is a young Cilla Black
– unrecognisable from the Surprise Surprise and
Blind Date legend we know and love. The footage
itself is a master class in perfectionism gone wild.
“I was driving her
crazy because I
was trying to get
the best vocals”
“I was driving her crazy because I was trying to get
the best vocal and the best performance from the
orchestra. I pushed Cilla pretty hard; we did way
too many takes. I just kept saying ‘give me one more
Cilla, give me one more’.”
All in all, Burt requested 26 takes of the song that
would catapult Cilla Black into stardom. As the
years have gone on Burt’s demanding perfectionist
nature has mellowed greatly, and he’s achieved a new
perspective that sees him to look back on that day
with humour.
“At the end of the day, Sir George (Martin, Cilla’s
producer) was sitting in the booth when I came back
into the Abbey Road studio. He turned to me and
said ‘Burt, I think you had it on take number four!’
That often happened to me – I know I’ve got a great
take on number four but I always say one more take
and this’ll be great. I don’t think I function that way
now – if it’s really good on take one then what the
hell you’ve got it!”
It’s not just in his songwriting that Burt has a way
with words. Even when he’s just talking about his life
and career, there’s something incredibly lyrical in his
descriptions, and they’re beautiful to listen to.
“Being an orchestrator I can hear things. When
a song is born in the solitude of my room I’m still
hearing things. There’s the flugles, I’m hearing
two pianos playing and basically I have the whole
painting in front o