Indestructible!

[brownie]

Anybody heard her new album? Indestructible!

Interesting lineup with Joe Wilder, Roswell Rudd among others.

One album too many? too late?

[BruceH]

...Too scary-looking?

[slide_advantage_redoux]

Hell, I'll buy it to have another Rudd date on hand!

[ghost of miles]

We've gotten a promo, and I've listened to a couple of the tracks, but didn't want to proceed further. Liked what I heard of Wilder's playing, but... well, I'm not sure it's the unmitigated disaster that some on Yahoo Songbirds proclaim it to be, but I haven't had the heart to finish listening to it yet. Everybody wants it to be halfway decent, and I surely do too; I mean, for me, Anita ranks behind only Billie, I think, when it comes to favorite women jazz singers. Might be one for the diehard fans and completists, though.

[BruceH]

We've gotten a promo, and I've listened to a couple of the tracks, but didn't want to proceed further. Liked what I heard of Wilder's playing, but... well, I'm not sure it's the unmitigated disaster that some on Yahoo Songbirds proclaim it to be, but I haven't had the heart to finish listening to it yet. Everybody wants it to be halfway decent, and I surely do too; I mean, for me, Anita ranks behind only Billie, I think, when it comes to favorite women jazz singers. Might be one for the diehard fans and completists, though.

That's about what I figured.

[Jazz Kat]

boy, she is indestructible!

[fomafomic65]

boy, she is indestructible!

Indeed, after all that damned dope... like Lou Reed. Indestructible. That Mosaic box back in 1999 was one of the best buy in my life, like I'll never forget those few minutes of Jazz In A Summer's Day I discovered with the dvd remastering. Recently I had her new dvd "Live At Ronnie Scott's", 1986. It's pretty good, for these years. Maybe one of the last sets in which she acted a shadow of her greatness.

[jazzydaddy]

I would have thought the alternate cover under consideration

would have appealed more to the diehard Anita fan but I guess

the present state of the commercial market dictated otherwise.

However, let me take the opportunity to recommend (highly)

Anita's autobiography to those who may have overlooked it.

One of my more rewarding reads......... I won't forget it.

Don

[fomafomic65]

I would have thought the alternate cover under consideration

would have appealed more to the diehard Anita fan but I guess

the present state of the commercial market dictated otherwise.

However, let me take the opportunity to recommend (highly)

Anita's autobiography to those who may have overlooked it.

One of my more rewarding reads......... I won't forget it.

Don

I agree with you.

It's a nice book. For those who may care, it's a biography in the same stream of Art and Laurie Pepper's "Straight Life". The narration deals more with the character of the artist, his/her problems and dangerous ways to live than with music. Art remains in the background; the artist does not seem able to talk about art much, in these books. A little dirty and "bad"; and jet sincere, direct. Sometimes, as in the banal Mosaic box's notes, writers tend to exaggerate and make bad journalism, gossip, about some "scandalous" facts in the life of artists. To read the artist himself choosing to present his/her life in that way opens a direct comprehension of the human being. And with such great musicians I think this is saying a lot

[Van Basten II]

Just saw a great documentary about her life, a lot of great footage, with interviews of the lady set in different eras.

What impressed me the most besides of course her outstanding singing skills was her attitude. Even in old age, she didn't act like a quiet old lady, she in a way had more machismo than most man ever had. Really an iron hand in a velvet glove

[AllenLowe]

I met her once - Jean Roth, Joe Albany's girlfriend, took me to the Blue Note in NYC to hear her and introduce me - between sets we go back stage - Jean knocks on her door: "Hey Anita, it's Jean - " no answer, so Jean pushes the door open a little bit - inside we see O'day on all fours, apparent throwing up into something - she turns around, looks at us, pushes her leg out and slams the door shut in our faces.

Jean looks at me and says, "That was Anita O'Day."

[A Lark Ascending]

Anita O'Day is the subject of the Good Friday edition of BBC Radio 3's Jazz Library - can be heard for a week afterwards:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzlibrary/pip/9g85b/

I'm not sure that Gwyneth Herbert* will have much of note to say but Alyn Shipton always does his homework.

* A young UK singer being pushed in the Jamie Cullum/Claire Teal market.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

boy, she is indestructible!

I'll never forget those few minutes of Jazz In A Summer's Day I discovered with the dvd remastering.

Yeah, her performance really sticks with ya.