Jazz
Anita O Day shows in this set why her over-all feeling and delivery mark her as one of the few women in the field who could ever accurately be called a jazz singer. She was a more imaginative singer than her imitators, not merely because she was original, but also because she was much more inventive. Two talented and utterly dissimilar arrangers contributed the imaginatively varied scores for these sessions, the first two by Buddy Bregman, the last three by Jimmy Giuffre. Reveling in the settings the difference between hot and cool Anita O Day has a great time, not only on the swinging tunes, to which she contributes some trademark, zestful, inventive scatting, but also in singing ballads with a sure touch. Backing her, Bregman and Giuffre used some of the finest Hollywood jazzmen, with Stan Getz particularly warm and lyrical on I Never Had a Chance. These are probably the best jazz sides recorded by Anita O Day in the Fifties, and if you enjoy vocal records in the slightest bit, do yourself a favor and get this one. |
