Music, like life, is not always just about the good times and the Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden directed film, Anita O’Day The Life Of A Jazz Singer, does not try to depict the legendary vocalist, in anything but a realistic light. She was, when at the top of her game, one of the most outstanding singers to ever lend her voice to a recording or to walk out onto a stage. At her lowest points in life, Anita O’Day was a heroin addict and an alcoholic, for twenty years. There are some of you, who as soon as you hear that this is a documentary, will probably start surfing to another page on this website. Well don’t, because if you do, you are going to miss hearing about a very good film.
The thing that struck me immediately about this film is that it does not plod along like a lot of documentaries, and if it did, it would not be a good representation of the spirited and opinionated O’Day. The ninety-two minute film is comprised of interviews with such great talk show hosts such as Dick Cavett and David Frost, and weaves them together with footage of her live performances. One segment of the film that I found to be particularly poignant was a casual moment between O’Day and Dr. Billy Taylor, with Taylor seated at the piano and O’Day sharing some of the finer points concerning her music. She uses the song, “Let’s Fall In Love,” as her focal point, and the producers provide us with tantalizing clips of Anita O’Day singing, “Let’s Fall In Love,” in several different concerts, during her career.
Even if this film were not about one of the great icons of jazz music, it would still be a treasure. We get to share in footage and interviews with numerous legendary musicians such as, Hoagy Carmichael, Gene Krupa, with whom O’Day performed for five years, and Stan Kenton, who she gigged with for one year. There is an eye-opening interview with producer / arranger Buddy Bregman, who recalls having to convince the executives, at the new Verve Records, to allow him to produce Anita O’Day’s first record in 1955. They told him to be careful about how much she spent, because the records would not sell. Verve sold 365,000 copies of O’Day’s debut album! We will not name all the individuals who make appearances either posthumously or otherwise, but there are interviews with Johnny Mandel, Annie Ross, George Wein, Eddie Locke and Bill Holman.
This film is not about posterity, it is about reminding all of us, why it was that we first fell in love with jazz music. You cannot watch O’Day perform, “Four Brothers,” with the Les Brown Band, on the Timex Watch Television Special, and not have a smile on your face.
There is the stark reminder of a day when segregation and prejudice raised its ugly head time after time in America, but how Anita O’Day disregarded those barriers, as she performed, talked with and kibitzed on stage with African American trumpeter Roy Eldridge. She performed in concert at The Apollo Theater, and was embraced, at a time when few white vocalists or musicians graced the theater’s stage.
The photo of O’Day which graces the cover of the DVD, serves as a reminder of her performance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. During an interview, O’Day recalls going across the street and buying a dress and a wide brimmed hat, complete with ostrich feathers. A photo of her taken that day, found its way to the cover of Time Magazine, and eventually led to her three-decade love affair with Japanese music fans.
Not unlike one of the producers, Melissa Davis, I really did not know much about Anita O’Day, because so much of her career took place before my time. Of course, I knew that she was revered as a jazz vocalist but that was pretty well it. After listening to O’Day’s music and reading her autobiography, High Times, Hard Times, Davis says, “I wanted other people to discover her, as I did, and wanted to help get the film made.”
To say that the film candidly discusses O’Day’s addiction to heroin would be a gross understatement. She talks about the curiosity that led her to experiment, being pronounced dead due to an overdose, and why she decided to take the necessary steps to break the cycle. It would not be accurate to say that this film comes out and makes a bold statement against drug use, but it does, through O’Day’s own words and interviews with others in the entertainment industry, vividly paint the horrors of drug addiction and how it contributed directly to the death of several of her contemporaries.
During an interview with journalist and author James Gavin, he makes the point that, the world of jazz is about improvising your life every step of the way, and he goes on to say, that epitomizes the life of Anita O’Day.
To merely dismiss Anita O’Day The Life Of A Jazz Singer, as a documentary does not serve as an adequate compliment to the producers and directors who made this film possible. Anita O’Day The Life Of A Jazz Singer, moves quickly when it should, is entertaining all of the time, and certainly, it can be described as thought provoking. This film is a ‘must have,’ for any true fan of jazz music.
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Reviewed July 2008
