i love anita o'day

me too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/23/AR2006112300705.html

By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 24, 2006; Page B7

"Anita O'Day, 87, whose breathy voice and witty improvisation made her one of the most dazzling jazz singers of the last century and whose sex appeal and drug addiction earned her the nickname "the Jezebel of Jazz," died of pneumonia Nov. 23 at a convalescent hospital in West Los Angeles.

Ms. O'Day led one of the roughest lives in jazz, possibly surpassed only by her idol, Billie Holiday. Impoverished and largely abandoned in childhood, she became a marathon dancer and changed her surname from Colton to O'Day, pig Latin for "dough," slang for money.

Over a five-decade career, a mental breakdown, a rape, numerous abortions, a 14-year addiction to heroin and time in jail all contributed to her legend as a survivor."

Scott, did you read her book upthread? How is it? I love Anita O'Day's music and am sort of interested in the book.

She was one of the best. Did you ever see Jazz on a Summer's Day? Great clip in that.

I learned today that she lost her uvula when she was seven years old, which is part of the reason for her unique voice. Weird.

Interestingly, she was similar in many ways to my grandmother - both were born in Chicago only a couple of years apart, and my grandmother also sang with a big band as a young woman and has a similarly deep voice (well, deeper). They also both had similar depression-era troubles, but I guess most lower class Chicagoans did.

love those clips. weird how the audience seems so bored though, right?

The book's great -- chilling and wry. JOASD is worth buying on DVD.