Anita O’Day December 11, 2007

Tastes change. I remember my Dad playing Anita O’Day for me when I was in my ‘twenties and on a Billie Holiday kick, and I just didn’t get it. Now I do.

These clips are from documentaries on O’Day’s life, and although there’s relatively little music it tells more of her astounding life than paragraphs of purple prose could accomplish.

Why have I turned from Billie to Anita in my old age? Well, Billie was eight years younger than I am today when she died, and Anita was thirty-five years older. O’Day would have howled at the thought of being a role model, but that’s just what she is.

That being said, I should shut up and let her sing. From the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, Anita O’Day sings “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Tea For Two”:

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