One of my goals in life was to see Anita O'Day sing live one day. Now it is too late.
I'll be putting her stuff on the Radio.Blog later. There are some video clips of her performing at her official site.
If it's any consolation, I saw George Jones last year, and it wasn't what I had hoped it would be. He's an icon, and indisputably the greatest living country singer, but he's a shadow of his former self. I walked away thinking both, "that was really cool!", and, "I wish I had seen him 20 years ago, when he was still great."
Posted by: Special Agent Johnny Utah at November 25, 2006 10:23 PMI think she was actually holding up quite well. On that performances page, there is a video of her doing a great version of Honeysuckle Rose with just a bass - then joined by the piano & drums - and she was 83 at the time. I think because the genre in general, and her interpretations especially, relies more on style than precision, it continued to work even as her voice aged.
I had a chance to go see her in LA a couple of years ago and passed it up because I didn't want to make the trip alone. Dumb.
Posted by: Vox at November 27, 2006 09:28 AMHad not listened intently to Anita O'Day till now. Thank you for introducing us to her! It is raining in San Diego this morning. It is a wonderful radio.blog collection that adds beautiful rhythm to the falling drops.
Posted by: Woods at November 27, 2006 11:39 AM