Among the Six Legends (Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington, Anita O'Day), Anita O'Day sticks out as the lone voice of total, utter control and supreme self-confidence that never falters. When she grabs you, you stay grabbed! She takes you where SHE wants to go, not where YOU want to go. The diction, the phrasing, the range, the colorature, the melismas, it is all three. Anita O'Day is a lecture in Jazz vocalising. It is IMPOSSIBLE to be unhappy with the voice of Anita O'Day.

Jazz On A Summer's Day brought me here. Better late than never to discover such an amazing singer!!

Anita is an American national treasure. Her rendition of "Sweet Georgia Brown" at Newport will knock the socks right off your feet. Tremendous jazz artist and sang right into her 80's. Very good video Buzz, thanks.

Just fantastic timing and probably the best example of a jazz singer who sings like a horn player.

Anita all day long. One of the best jazz singers ever! Thanks for the post!

Always improvising. Never sang it the same way twice. Brilliant sense of swing a timing. Thanks for posting.

Impossibly beautiful - She is just sublime - her voice is like liquid smoke spalling over a wet misty moor. Enjoy my friends

THERE'S IS NOBODY COMPARARABLE TO ANITA O'DAY!! GOT LUCKY AND SAW AND HEARD HER LIVE. A TRUE LEGEND!!!

John Poole on drums. Great brush work. He amd Anita had a special relationship and she obviously feels very comfortable with him. Tea for Two not easy at tat tempo. Great version.

BEST female Jazz singer EVER

Her voice and style were like smooth velvet..... Madonna nor Gaga could hold a candle to this real styalist ... met Anita 3 times

Watch how she cues the band, especially on Honeysuckle Rose. She's every bit a musician and leader. Mastery!

She IS the orchestra! Deceptively seeming to have the most fun of any musician on the stage, her vast on-the-spot understanding of every component of music shines through.

The seven fools who gave this a thumbs down should be banned from giving any opinion on anything.

The phrasing in the 1st song is sublime. She played the drums also.

15 minutes very well spent. She is incredible. Trio is sublime, too. Her beautiful wide-set eyes .....the genius within...

Anita was in heaven and hell along her life. Strong, funny and what a giant singer. Thanks for sharing this gem.

I have always loved this lady!

I’ve met and had delightful exchanges with innumerable “stars”. None was better than my 4 minute long one on one encounter with Anita O’Day. 4 minutes of pure gold. A true star.

Incredible!! SUPERFINE! I know not too much about jazz but this Lady is way beyond great. Her spontaneous creativity is very beautiful and how totally captivating she is! Many fantastic interpretations there are of "A Nightingale Sang In Barkley Square". I love most of them. Anita's is my absolute favourite. Thank you very much for sharing.

I have known her by name for years, never before paid attention, but VERY impressed!

Wonderful Anita. Incomperable! !!!

You have to be brave to sing like Anita. She was the bravest jazz singer of them all - male or female.

15 minutes with Anita 'O Day,,,,,,,,you mean 15 minutes in HEAVEN !!!!!

For me she was the greatest jazz singer of them all and I'm amazed that the audience become dumbstruck when asked if they had seen "Jazz on a Summers Day". I assumed everyone who enjoyed jazz had seen that, obviously not. Great musicianship from Anita as ever … A master of her instrument.Terrific !

Woah! Fantastic!!! Anita, wish you were still with us!

The bass player is amazing ❤🧡🧡💜

I love Anita. She improvises with the daring of a horn player.

Amazing Anita ! It seems all effortless, like breathing, such a marvellous singer !

Anita O'Day, l'une des meilleures. Respect à cette Grande Dame pour son talent. Magnifique O'Day.

Plus she's so much fun to watch and hear. I've never seen her before

Awe inspiring to watch and hear Anita O’Day.

Anita was badass! She was like "Eff a microphone Ima use this electric toothbrush right here and you will LIVE!!!"

A time of class. Anita, for me, stood out as the finest Jazz/swing singer. Simply irresistible.

A unique voice of Jazz says it all.

I just want to point out that like she does with Honeysuckle Rose, great singers used to choose the key of the song to fit their voice, not try to keep the original key whether it matched them or not. And there's nothing wrong with it. Keys are not sacred. Anita on the other hand is heavenly perfection on Earth. This is my first time seeing her perform, tho I've heard her countless times. Amazing woman! What a pro!

Thank you posting this. An underappreciated voice of the time.

Thanks Very Much for posting this

Phrasing to die for.

Great post. Truly one of the very best.

Her Berlin 1970 concert is off the charts, especially "Soon It's Gonna Rain."

Love this singer! The trio was great too, tho I thot the bass man was a bit "unsure" at first (Anita is such a strong imposing performer) but then she put him at ease! That fabulous drummer really had fun with Anita's zany phrasing, etc. Thank you!

my mom was a professional big band singer and Anita was her favorite by far.

My favorite vocalists of all time are male: Mike Patton (Faith no More, Mr. Bungle) and female: Anita O'day. While I can admit there are better (singers) out there, Mike and Anita used their voices not for the purpose of being lead singer, necessarily, but as additional musical instruments in the band like nobody else ever does/has. This is respectable and incredible. Really unique, captivating, and amazing.

Eu não conhecia Anita O' Day, mas estou gostando muito! Excelente!

Best version ever of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.

One of a kind, for sure.

Anita O'Day could swing -- big swing! I in particular liked her stay with Gene Krupa and trumpeter Roy Eldrige. Just take that famed song -- Let Me Off Uptown, of which the hit she says in an interview she received little royalty or recognition for that hit, that Krupa took all the boons that followed. She swung like Ella did, and accorded clarity unique to her and proved all her own. Nevertheless, she loved what she did as did Krupa. There evidenced just that certain something about musicians and lyricists that spawned during the 1930's and 1940's -- their resumes, off the charts, especially in terms of the brilliance and the people with whom one another played and sang. Music proves never far from the energy frequencies and lifestyles of those musicians who played and sang and wrote the great compositions and songs. Too, 'fascinating how musicians and lyricists generally were Americans of Irish, Jewish, Italian, and west African descent -- typically the selfsame ones who underwent so much strife and struggle. And, mirabile visu, out of theirs came a unique feel and sheer brilliance. Alas, we only see this today in Sports, but in the early to middle 20th Century, all centered on theater and the performing arts -- ay, all the expressions that come by everyday living.

You have to love her

The best of the best in every way. Every way.

I totally fell in love with her today!

Dear children of today: take note--free singing lesson right here.

Geniaaa!!!

All I can say is WOW!

the definition of cool

hypnotised

Commanding this band . As per usual. Classy and sassy.

the best jazz singer -------

total freedom, way ahead of her times, you had to wait for Nina Simone or Betty Carter to get such level of freedom - Ella was of course amazing, but she was swing not bebop - this is bebop

Bravo!

Elle est l’une des toutes grandes voix du jazz

beautiful

Queen

Brush master, John Poole

"I'd tell you a joke, but...." what a line!

El bebop de anita o day en su mejor epoca..improvisadora y sofisticada siempre llevando a su banda al tope...

John Poole on drums, don't know who the bass player is, but he is solid as a rock also.

anita marabilloza anita

One very “SPECIAL LADY” - the term true Jazz Singer epitomized “LADY O’DAY”

10:10 breathtaking..

Oh, yes.

Good Lord! Tea for Three and she's for me!

❤❤❤

insane

The Amy Winehouse of her day...her timing is IMPECCABLE!!! Watch her hand movements...right there with the drummer!!

She’s almost too good. She does with her voice what the brass does in Kenton’s orchestra. To this listener she’s almost too much!

Still the best White black or blue censored or not

Wow! Every chick who thinks she can sing needs to watch this. She's the Charlie Parker of female vocalists.

Loks like Great pianist Carl Schroeder.

Read her biography, Jazz, Genius, and Jail at emilyprod.com. Vocal hang gliding and how to survive the music business.

"I don't buy sugar, u just have to touch my cup"

Would love to know who's in the rhythm section .Fantastic!

Swingin’ cats man.

Sexy in a casual and gutsy way.Never was or will be another.

I’d do whatever she wanted me to do.

Probablemente muchos querran matarme por decir lo que voy a escribir ahora pero para MI Anita es el Jazz el BiBop es su vos ella como nadie Representa al JAZZZ

Where and when was this gig please?

Who on earth is the drummer?? He's on fire

Anybody know the details of this session? Where when?

The Female Sinatra 🎤🎙🎼🎶🎵

Most of you weren't even born during the Anita O'Day era.

Can you PLEASE tell us the names of the first-rate musicians are here w/Anita ?

Did Anita write those lyrics for "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square?"

Ten thumbs down = Ten tin ears

I think its Roman Dyląg on bass

Sheeeit I'd be groovin so hard to Queen O'Day if I was there. That audience doesn't deserve her 😄 sorry not sorry

"The voice", who IS Frank Sinatra ?

She was unique and fabulous. Did anyone else see the interview that Mel Torme gave when he claimed that in his opinion Anita O'Day was not really a jazz singer ??? The egotistical Torme may have been a great singer but many of his opinions were total rubbish...

What about the MIC?

Awful tailor, put on some flesh, amateur piano player: but still very good.