Anita O'Day's Finest Hour

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
No jazz singer has ever swung harder or scatted with more infectious enthusiasm than Anita O'Day. This selection of her Verve recordings from 1954 to 1962 shows just how many contexts O'Day could enliven with her presence. Some of her earliest hits are heard here in reprised but still effective form. The 1956 version of "Let Me Off Uptown," with partners Gene Krupa and Roy Eldridge, rekindles its original energy, and arranger Gary McFarland creates a driving 1961 revision of "Boogie Blues." She's clearly comfortable at the fastest tempos, singing "Tea for Two" and "Them There Eyes" at breakneck speed, enjoying matching improvisational wits with an elite assortment of musicians including Oscar Peterson and Phil Woods. A few ballads, like "God Bless the Child" with just Barney Kessel's guitar for accompaniment, provide effective contrast. O'Day is terrific, also, on two wittily steamy selections with Cal Tjader from 1962, "An Occasional Man" and "Peel Me a Grape." --Stuart Broomer

Anita O'Day's Finest Hour, Music, Anita O'Day, Jazz, Jazz Music, Jazz Vocals, Pop, Traditional Pop, Vocal Jazz
Anita O'Day's Finest Hour
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Anita the Lionheart
  • Great collection by a peerless singer
 Anita O'Day's Finest Hour
Anita O'Day
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | Jazz | Styles | Music
Traditional Jazz GeneralTraditional Jazz General | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music
Vocal Jazz GeneralVocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Traditional Vocal PopTraditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
Traditional PopTraditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music
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  4. Pick Yourself Up with Anita O'Day
  5. Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart

ASIN: B00004WIP7
Release Date: 2000-09-26

Tracks:

  1. Honeysuckle Rose
  2. Little Girl Blue
  3. Let Me Off Uptown
  4. An Occasional Man
  5. Four Brothers
  6. Tea For Two
  7. Boogie Blues
  8. God Bless The Child
  9. What Is This Thing Called Love?
  10. The Ballad Of The Sad Young Men
  11. The Way You Look Tonight
  12. When Sunny Gets Blue
  13. Peel Me A Grape
  14. Sing, Sing, Sing
  15. Them There Eyes
  16. Anita's Blues
  17. Sweet Georgia Brown
  18. The Party's Over

Amazon.com

No jazz singer has ever swung harder or scatted with more infectious enthusiasm than Anita O'Day. This selection of her Verve recordings from 1954 to 1962 shows just how many contexts O'Day could enliven with her presence. Some of her earliest hits are heard here in reprised but still effective form. The 1956 version of "Let Me Off Uptown," with partners Gene Krupa and Roy Eldridge, rekindles its original energy, and arranger Gary McFarland creates a driving 1961 revision of "Boogie Blues." She's clearly comfortable at the fastest tempos, singing "Tea for Two" and "Them There Eyes" at breakneck speed, enjoying matching improvisational wits with an elite assortment of musicians including Oscar Peterson and Phil Woods. A few ballads, like "God Bless the Child" with just Barney Kessel's guitar for accompaniment, provide effective contrast. O'Day is terrific, also, on two wittily steamy selections with Cal Tjader from 1962, "An Occasional Man" and "Peel Me a Grape." --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Anita the Lionheart.......2001-04-23

She may have been overshadowed by Ella Fitzgerald in Norman Granz's "Verve" company but to my ears Anita O'Day belongs to pantheon of all-time great jazz singers.This compilation presents the cream of 14 albums she recorded for "Verve",and as 8 of them are out of print,this is the only way to hear some otherwise rare and forgotten gems.If her voice mirrors her soul,Anita O'Day must have been very cool,ironic lady but just when you think she never let herself go,she surprises with poignant version of "God Bless The Child" (from her loving tribute to Billie Holiday) which she sings with real understanding and feeling.After all the vocal fireworks,her worldless vocalising and fast-scatting,it came as surprise to notice that O'Day was actually NOT born with big/pretty/beautiful voice,but its a sheer power of her personality that somehow works for her.There is something of a "bad girl" in her,which I find very appealing and while so many of commercialy succesful singers of her time had vanished together with their cheerful smiles,work of cynical and cool Anita O'Day stands the test of time perfectly.(Note: the drummer John Poole,who worked with her for decades is present on a few selections.With so many great musicians behind her,O'Day still sounds more ballsy than all of them)

5 out of 5 stars Great collection by a peerless singer.......2001-04-05

Anita O'Day's recorded output includes quite a few undisputed masterpieces, and this collection brings just about all of them together on one CD. O'Day's supreme mastery of time and swing makes her one of the great jazz singers of the bop era, up there with Sarah Vaughn, Carmen MacRae and Little Jimmy Scott. Her sly, sexy cover of "Peel Me a Grape" is a classic. Her big band roots serve her well as she belts out "Sing, Sing, Sing", "Four Brothers" (completely scatted) and (of course) "Let Me Off Uptown" (with Roy Eldridge, her old Gene Krupa bandmate). And her Mach 4 romp through "Them There Eyes" (propelled by Oscar Peterson's stunning Lisztian piano solo work) will have you gasping in amazement-- she pushes every word out for a few lines, then jettisons whole lines to make room for scatting, then re-works the whole lyric into a relaxed half-time line while the rhythm sections furiously keeps up the bop beat underneath. Well worth a listen!
Anita O'Day's Finest Hour
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		Anita O'Day's Finest Hour
    Anita O'Day
    Manufacturer: Universal/Verve
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    GeneralGeneral | Jazz | Styles | Music
    Traditional Jazz GeneralTraditional Jazz General | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music
    Vocal Jazz GeneralVocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
    Traditional Vocal PopTraditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
    Traditional PopTraditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music
    VerveVerve | Verve Music Group | Specialty Stores | Music
    ASIN: B00005S75U
    Release Date: 2001-12-21

    Tracks:

    1. Honeysuckle Rose
    2. Little Girl Blue - Billy May Orchestra, Anita O'Day
    3. Let Me Off Uptown - Gene Krupa, Anita O'Day
    4. Occasional Man
    5. Four Brothers - Anita O'Day, Marty Paich
    6. Tea for Two
    7. Boogie Blues
    8. God Bless the Child
    9. What Is This Thing Called Love? - Billy May Orchestra, Anita O'Day
    10. Ballad of the Sad Young Men
    11. Way You Look Tonight
    12. When Sunny Gets Blue
    13. Peel Me a Grape
    14. Sing, Sing, Sing
    15. Them There Eyes
    16. Anita's Blues
    17. Sweet Georgia Brown
    18. Party's Over

    Music:

    1. At Carnegie Hall [Live]
    2. At Her Finest
    3. At Mister Kelly's [Live]
    4. At Ratso's Vol.2 [Explicit Lyrics] [Live]
    5. Best of the Four Aces [Import]
    6. Birthday Concert [Live]
    7. Bottle Rocket
    8. Capitol Years [Box set] [Import]
    9. Career: 1937-1992
    10. Change of Scenery/Have You Forgotten? [Import]

    Music

    Music