Huffington Post this morning has a terrific interview with Burt to promote the release of A Life in Song, his new concert (and interview) Blu-ray. An excerpt:

…Sometimes, just one note makes a difference. If you take one note or one bar and put it in or take it out, it influences the whole balance of the actual song. So for me, the turning point was an A&R man out of Chicago named Calvin Carter. He was working at Vee-Jay Records, an R&B label. Good label. He called me in New York and he said, “Jerry Butler wants to record this song of yours and he wants to be able to come into New York. I want to be there in New York with him and we want you to do the date.” That means write the arrangement, set the tempos, get the musicians you want, be in the studio–everything. That was the door that opened. Once I had permission to get into the studio and was able to control the environment of that particular song and episode that was going on, how it was done, and being able to say, “No, I need another take,” things changed.

To read the full interview, visit Huffington Post.