In five recording sessions between 2 and 9 April 1959 Anita O’Day recorded the 24 tracks that Verve would release as two separate vinyl albums, here reissued on one CD. First up is Cool Heat, subtitled “Anita O’Day Sings Jimmy Giuffre Arrangements”, which is pretty much what it says on the tin.
Somehow this eluded me on its initial release so I was hearing it for the first time. We were barely four bars in when I was struck by the resemblance to June Christy singing Peter Rugolo arrangements. Nothing wrong with that, of course, except that it has, by definition, been done, and despite its merits this release is not quite up to equalling, let alone eclipsing Something Cool, the Christy/Rugolo album first released in 1954 and widely credited with pioneering the vogue for “cool” albums.
On the other hand, O’Day scats her way through Johnny Mandel’s Hershey Bar, which is something I haven’t heard Christy or, indeed, soundalike Chris Connor, attempt. I enjoyed the most the version of Johnny Green and Edward Heyman’s Easy Come, Easy Go, which isn’t done nearly enough. O’Day even alludes to the verse, which is a bonus whichever way you look at it. Against that, she double-times the Jerome Kern-Dorothy Field ballad The Way You Look Tonight, which is too fragile to withstand such an onslaught.
Giuffre’s charts are well up to snuff if a tad derivative. In addition to blowing himself, he rounded up some tasty West Coast musicians like Frank Rosolino, Conte Candoli, Jack Sheldon, Art Pepper, etc. All in all it remains a half-decent entry.
This, alas, is more than I am able to say for the second album, whose title in full is Anita O’Day Swings Cole Porter With Billy May. As a serious Porter admirer I bought this album on its initial release but played it only once, and now, some 60 years on, listening to it again, I am reminded why. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to find even one track that benefits from the frenetic pacing. Ella, in her Cole Porter songbook, had shown that it is possible to swing Porter, but not mindlessly and totally bereft of feeling, as O’Day does here.
Even May’s charts leave a lot to be desired, which is bemusing given that the following year he was outstanding on yet another Porter album, this time backing Jeri Southern. There’s one bonus track, Memories Of You, recorded in December of that same year and taken from the soundtrack of The Gene Krupa Story, which illustrates just what O’Day is capable of when the spirit moves her.
Discography
CD1: (1) [Cool Heat] Mack The Knife; Easy Come, Easy Go; Orphan Annie; You’re A Clown; Gone With The Wind; Hooray For Hollywood; It Had To Be You; Come Rain Or Come Shine; Hershey Bar; A Lover Is Blue; My Heart Belongs To Daddy; The Way You Look Tonight (32.38)
CD2: (2) [Anita O’Day Swings Cole Porter] Just One Of Those Things;Love For Sale; You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To; Easy To Love; I Get A Kick Out Of You; All Of You; Get Out Of Town; I’ve Got You Under My Skin; Night And Day; It’s De-Lovely; I Love You; What Is This Thing Called Love; (3) [bonus track] Memories Of You (29.27)
O’Day (v) with: (1) Jimmy Giuffre Ensemble. Los Angeles, 6, 7, 8 April 1959. (2) Billy May Orchestra, Los Angeles, 2 & 9 1959. Plus (3) Bonus track from soundtrack The Gene Krupa Story, Los Angeles, 23 December 1959.
Essential Jazz Classics EJC 55765
Footnote:
Robbie Cavolina, trustee of The Estate of Anita O’Day and director of Anita O’Day The Life Of A Jazz Singer, writes: “Anita O’Day discovered ‘June Christy’ aka Shirley Lester. June was a girl who sang so much like Anita that she took her to Stan Kenton and said here is my replacement. Stan agreed to let Anita go if she found a replacement. It is factually incorrect to say Anita sounds like June Christy. It’s the other way around as June was a huge fan of Anita as was Chris Connor. Your writer of the review of Cool Heat has the facts wrong. He should try researching a bit better.”
