Anita O'Day

Born Anita Belle Colton in Chicago, Illinois on October 18, 1919, O’Day got her start as a teen. She eventually changed her name to O’Day and in the late 1930’s began singing in a jazz club called the Off-Beat, a popular hangout for musicians like band leader and drummer Gene Krupa. In 1941 she joined Krupa’s band, and a few weeks later Krupa hired trumpeter Roy Eldridge. O’Day and Eldridge had great chemistry on stage and their duet Let Me Off Uptown became a million-dollar-seller, boosting the popularity of the Krupa band. Also that year, “Down Beat” magazine named O’Day “New Star of the Year” and, in 1942, she was selected as one of the top five big band singers.

After her stint with, Krupa, O’Day joined Stan Kenton's band. She left the band after a year and returned to Krupa. Singer Jackie Cain remembers the first time she saw O’Day with the Krupa band. “I was really impressed,” she recalls, “She (O’Day) sang with a jazz feel, and that was kind of fresh and new at the time.” Later, O’Day joined Stan Kenton’s band with whom she cut an album that featured the hit tune And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine.

In the late’40s, O’Day struck out on her own. She teamed up with drummer John Poole, with whom she played for the next 32 years. Her album Anita, which she recorded on producer Norman Granz’s new Verve label, elevated her career to new heights. She began performing in festivals and concerts with such illustrious musicians as Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Georg Shearing and Thelonious Monk. O’Day also appeared in the documentary filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 called Jazz on a Summer Day, which made her an international star.

Throughout the ‘60s Anita continued to tour and record while addicted to heroin and in 1969 she nearly died from an overdose. O’Day eventually beat her addiction and returned to work. In 1981 she published her autobiography High Times, Hard Times which, among other things, talked candidly about her drug addiction.

O'Day died in her sleep early November 23, 2006 at a convalescent hospital in Los Angeles, California, where she was recovering from a bout with pneumonia.

Two-Fer's: Geri Allen, John Zorn, Jonathan Blake, Gonzalo Rubalcaba

by David Brown
August 22, 2023

This week, a program of two-fer's. Songs that are linked either by artist, themes, instrumentation or whatever works. More jazz for your buck. Playlist Thelonious Monk “Esistrophy (Theme)" from Live at the It Club-Complete (Columbia) 01:00 Nicole Zuraitis “The Good Ways" from How Love Begins (Outside in Music) 03:00 John Zorn “Functives" from Multiplicities Vol. 1 (Tzadik) 07:17 John Zorn “Difference and Repetition" from Multiplicities Vol. 2 (Tzadik) 13:31 Gonzalo Rubalcaba & Trio D'été “infantil" from Turning Point ...

Radio & Podcasts

Mosaic Blow-Out, Anita @ 100 & More

by Marc Cohn
April 19, 2019

So, my log book reminded me it was time to play some Fats Waller, and the Savory box just arrived from Mosaic, which contains fabulous Waller airchecks. Done! Well, one thing lead to another, and as you see below, more Mosaics screamed for attention. Anita O'Day is 100 in the Fall--time for a warmup with Sings the Winners, which Will Friedwald considers one of the top 50 jazz vocal records of all-time; DrJ selected three tunes associated with Stan Getz ...

720

Film Review

Anita O'Day: The Life Of A Jazz Singer

by Victor L. Schermer
December 19, 2008

Anita O'Day Anita O'Day: The Life Of A Jazz Singer AOD Productions 2008Whatever else she was, Anita O'Day was a bundle of contradictions. Though one of the top four or five women jazz singers of her generation, she had little idea what she was doing with her life or where she was going with her art. She led a miserable though long life, was regularly addicted to drugs and alcohol, frequently disappeared ...

323

Album Review

Anita O'Day: Anita O'Day Live in Tokyo '63

Read "Anita O'Day Live in Tokyo '63" reviewed by Andrew Velez

by Andrew Velez
April 4, 2008

This is a never previously released live set from a highly successful 1963 television concert in Japan. Vocalist Anita O'Day came out of the Big Band Era and after memorable stints with the Gene Krupa and Stan Kenton bands she launched an enduring soloist career that was still going strong when she passed in 2007 at 87.This “new" O'Dayalbum is especially welcome because it is from her peak recording years. The snazzy arrangements by Buddy Bregman come directly ...

417

Album Review

Anita O: Live in Tokyo

Read "Live in Tokyo " reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
April 8, 2007

Inevitable with the upcoming screening of the documentary Anita O'Day The Life of a Jazz Singer at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival is the release of Live in Tokyo '63. This is the soundtrack to a televised concert in Japan during O'Day's fruitful association with Verve records that was to last the decade. This inevitability is good fortune for O'Day enthusiasts as this concert presents O'Day at the top of her game, still basking in the incandescence of her filmed ...

409

First Time I Saw

Who's The Hippest Chick In Town? Anita.

by Rob Mariani
November 11, 2006

Who the hell shows up at a midnight jam session at the Loews Sheraton Theater in Greenwich Village wearing white, elbow-length gloves, a little, flowered print dress and a hat that looks like an inverted birdbath? Who dares to show up on stage like that where guys like Zoot Sims and Conte Candoli and Al Cohn are playing? And then proceeds to not merely hold her own on the scat vocals, but to actually kick some ass up there?

420

Album Review

Anita O: Keep the Coffee Coming

Read "Keep the Coffee Coming" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 13, 2006

Keep the Coffee Coming is a collection of eighteen small, medium and big band recordings fronted by Anita O'Day from 1952 to 1955. This is the period just prior to O'Day's climb toward her zenith with Verve records. During this period, O'Day was recording for the Norman Granz pre-Verve labels Clef and Norgram. It is not clear where these recordings came from. The selections are from the Anita O'Day book, to be sure.

The disc is kicked off ...

Video / DVD

12 YouTube Clips of Anita O'Day

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 14, 2024

Anita O'Day was one of jazz's first “slick chicks." Born Anita Colton in 1919, O'Day was raised in Chicago. She left home during the Depression at age 14 to become a walk-a-thon contestant—the last person standing after sleepless hours won a cash prize. Dance-a-thons would soon follow. In 1936, O'Day began singing professionally and fronted her fist big band two years later. In 1941, she joined Gene Krupa's band and revolutionized the term girl singer, opening the door to attitude. ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anita O'Day

Source: Michael Ricci
October 18, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Anita O'Day's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anita O'Day

Source: Michael Ricci
October 18, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Anita O'Day's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anita O'Day

Source: Michael Ricci
October 18, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Anita O'Day's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anita O'Day

Source: Michael Ricci
October 18, 2019

All About Jazz is celebrating Anita O'Day's birthday today!

Place our ...
read more

Video / DVD

5 Japanese Big Bands

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 28, 2019

When many American big-band singers toured Japan and Australia in the early 1960s, musical directors brought along the arrangements rather than 18 to 21 musicians. In some cases it was cheaper. In other situations, countries had regulations that insisted their own musicians were hired for the job. Like Australia, Japan had top-notch big-band players and still do. Here are five videos featuring terrific Japanese bands: Here's Anita O'Day in 1963... Here are the Four Freshmen in 1964... Here are the ...
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Video / DVD

Anita O'Day: August 1960

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 16, 2019

In 1952, Norman Granz signed singer Anita O'Day to his Clef label. Clef became Norgran in 1954 and then Verve in 1955. Throughout the 1950s, O'Day recorded more than 20 albums for Granz's labels. Most of the recordings are quite good, but only a few are excellent. Two that stand out are Waiter, Make Mine Blues, arranged by Russ Garcia, and Incomparable, arranged by Bill Holman. Both were recorded in August 1960. The quality of O'Day's seductive voice and magic ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anita O'Day

Source: Michael Ricci
October 18, 2018

All About Jazz is celebrating Anita O'Day's birthday today!

Place our ...
read more

Video / DVD

And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 6, 2017

In 1944, Stan Kenton and Charles Lawrence wrote a song called “And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine." Little is known about Lawrence, how he came to write the song with Kenton, or what influenced Joe Greene's lyric—a noir tale about a “sad tomato" wronged by her thuggish husband, whom she shoves into the river only to discover after he drowns that he lacked a life insurance policy. In May of '44, Kenton recorded the song for Capitol with Anita O'Day ...
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