Even without the powerful vocals of a Dinah Washington or Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day owned whatever song she sang. Her phrasing is next level. Talk about Girl Power!
Artists and tough lives go together. Then again there’s lots of people with very tough lives who never have anything near this amount of creative fun and prowess. She’s probably luckier than most :) 🍀
Anita plays with "let's fall in love". Amazing how she uses her voice like a horn, producing melody lines that shouldn't belong, but somehow they do! This is a jazz simger!!!
Again again - I love how she plays with the consonants. This is SO difficult to do without it coming-off awkward. She does it like it's nothing. !!! ( :
Saw her in the 80s in San Francisco at some club. Amazing voice. Not the best voice, but the best scatter ever and the best timing ever. No one could improvise like that. Too bad she never got invited to Monterey, along with Mose Allison and Mark Murphy. Too late now.
Although this lady is a talented singer and does an effective job in her style, I don't consider this song " Let's Fall In Love" a proper vehicle for her presentation. i have listened to several versions of this song and I really believe the composer's[Harold Arlen] intent is to evoke more tenderness and vulnerability. In this regard, there are a few versions I can recommend. Ella Fitzgerald [from her album E. L. Sings Sweet Songs For Swingers], Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, and even the composer, Harold Arlen in his 1933 recording. Notable points of observation are how these singers avoid rushing and stealing note values from certain words, like "Let's, Fall, Love, We....Close, Own, Paradise, etc." Ella sings, " Leeeettt's [with decrescendo] and delivers "..fall in love .." with a nice and gentle contour. Similarly, Ella's delivery of " Weee....fall in love"...very effective. Nat clips the word, "Let's", but makes up for it by caressing the words, "love....we...clooosse...our eyyyees... and oowwwnn....paradiiise..." Both very tender with vulnerability and fragility. Love their renditions. Tony Bennett gives a good treatment also, as does Harold Arlen.
She has her own distinctive style that subverted that slow style that you’re talking about even if it is what was intended by the composer. Anita just adds this spontaneity and playful personality to all the songs she covers. Try listening to her version of “Tea for Two”, you might enjoy it more and get what she’s about.
