Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer

I saw this tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

Anita O'Day's story was well documented in her autobiography "High Times, Hard Times", which is respected for its unflinching candor. The best feature of this documentary is the clips of Anita's performances, many of which have never been seen before. It includes, of course, her landmark performance of 'Sweet Georgia Brown' from the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, and several other performances that evidence her right to be considered one of jazz's finest vocalists. In addition to these clips there are interviews with jazz luminaries including George Wein (legendary founder of the Newport Jazz Festival), Margaret Whiting, and Dr. Billy Taylor. These experts credibly testify about Anita's genius and her standing relative to other jazz singers who obtained greater celebrity, such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughn.

This documentary does not provide new information about either Anita's private life or career, but it is important as a tribute to a singer whose talent justified greater acclaim than she received.

Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer: 6 out of 10: I had no idea who Anita O'Day was when I rented this film. I like Jazz well enough and enjoy having it as background music, but I am hardly what one describes as an aficionado.

Since viewing this film, I have watched the wonderful documentary "Jazz on a Summer's Day" and have downloaded some fine Anita O'Day jazz albums.

Therefore, from one point of view, the documentary is a stunning success. It got me interested enough in its subject, for me to take actions after viewing.

The film however suffers from uneven interviews and presentation. Film quality is all over the map and some of O'Day's last interviews were clearly filmed by folks unfamiliar with the workings of a motion picture camera.

Even more disappointing is the poor sound quality of many of the musical tracks and the lack of sampling from her albums.

You know if you have a 16-year heroin addiction and four failed marriages and you still manage to live until 87 despite grinding poverty and botched healthcare, you are the definition one tough bird. Unfortunately that also signifies most of your contemporaries are long dead. Many of the war stories as a result, tend to be second hand at best.

The film does contain one wonderful non-musical highlight. In a mid-seventies interview a young Bryant Gumbel states to O'Day "Your life story involves rape, failed relationships, drugs, and multiple abortions". O'Day's that is just they way it went down response is priceless.

Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer is a decent film but I would recommend renting Jazz on a Summer's Day first. That concert seems to capture the magic better than anything else I have seen.

Hi, I learned so much about Anita that is not available anywhere else. I disagree with the comment prior to mine. I saw this film at the Tribeca Festival and then again when it opened Aug 08. This film is truly one of the best docs I have ever seen. It is fantastic and opened my eyes and ears to one of this country's national treasures. I have not seen any other footage of Anita before I saw this. I have looked and could not find anything out on her. Except the 30 seconds clips on her web page. This docs shows her in all of her incredible splendor and humor. She is feisty and honest and just plain cool. So Rotten Tomatoes gives her 100% since the Tribeca opening, pretty impressive and finally a film that really matches the critical acclaim.

What a great forgotten talent ...the honesty of her life she presents should be a guide post to young talent and celebrities today. Her wit and wisdom...does not take the edge off what she did and how she did .A true breath of fresh air from truly one of the greats. To be truthful in regards to addiction ... Both hers and many of the Jazz greats that were her contemporaries, was insightful and sincere...with her brand of brashness that i am sure was her trademark. To have that long of a career , to play with most of the greatest in Jazz and to survive..is truly indicative of her stamina and stick to it-ness, that keeps her alive in the hearts of those that knew her and discovered her courtesy of this documentary. Anita's look and rebel attitude strikes familiar ....Mylie Cyrus.

I've not seen the documentary in full, but I've seen a lot of the footage that I know to be on it. My comment is mainly about mgconlan's '09 comment about Leonard Feather's comment about Anita being the only white female Jazz singer to equal what we think of as "the big 3" female Jazz singers. I agree with Feather. mgconlan points out other white femmes of note. I'm not that familiar with the Boswells or Bailey. Christy is too cool, too icy. I don't mean that in a bad way, I just find her style limited. In the mid-Seventies I became a fan of Chris Connor. "Lonely Woman" was the first song I heard by her, which is about as "outside" as she got on record. But I collected Bethlehem for her early stuff ( what she was doing in the early Fifties was pretty advanced) and Atlantic, of which I've owned almost all of her releases. I love her, but she is no Anita O'Day. Color being the theme - listening to Ella, she very often sounds white, yet still has the Jazz feel. Anita may sound "blacker" in a sense, but it is more her sense of feeling - this woman could throw some curve balls melodically while fooling around with the time and deconstruct a tune like nobody else. She could really read 'em. I put her up there with the big 3.