“A wonderfully challenging record. Barbra called and asked me to get involved because I had done a project with her called A Happening In Central Park. That was the first type of show where you had upwards of 25,000 people, kind of the precursor of what became Woodstock and other events.

“Barbra had always wanted to do a picture live. She wanted me to design the production for recording. We had a truck that had allowed us to tie two 24-track machines together. It had never been done before. Warner Brothers and First Artists were pretty nervous about it: ‘What if she gets laryngitis? What if the band doesn’t play right? We can’t take chances like that.’

“We built the whole thing, and we recorded and filmed as a band that traveled with her. The band got as tight as any touring unit I’d ever seen. A lot of the players were from Kris Kristofferson’s band. I put a couple of other musicians and horns in. It worked.

“In order for us to convince the film people, we shot at a club and recorded everything. There was no overdubbing – when Barbra sang with the band, it was all live. The next day we played it for the brass, and they got up and applauded.”