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.

Anita O'Day may not be as well known a Jazz singer as,oh say...Ella Fitzgerald,or even Sarah Vaughn, but over a period of sixty-odd years, she certainly made a name for herself,none the less. She started out as a singer with drummer/composer/band leader, Gene Krupa,moving on to a brief stint with Stan Kenton, and releasing a healthy legacy of recordings for Jazz legend Norman Grantz's Verve label,before entering a 15 year love affair with Heroin. This very well produced documentary features all of these facts & more. For it's relatively short running time (only about 90 minutes),it packs a treasure trove of film clips of performances (including the now legendary footage of O'Day singing 'Sweet Georgia Brown',at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival),and in some examples,complete performances,and not just excerpts of songs, plus film & video footage of interviews of O'Day,from some rare early television kine scopes,to just prior to her death in 2006, as well as others. Although the film does make brief mention of her short lived marriages,it doesn't really go much into her private life (she regarded her private life as just that,so we don't get a whole lot about it). If you consider yourself a lover of Jazz,you owe it to yourself to seek this film out. No MPAA rating here (as it's being distributed as an art film),but does contain a few rude words & references to O'Day's rampant drug problems, but is basically okay for teens,and even pre-teens with an interest in Jazz.

The movie didn't need to have anything new about O'Day. It had chronological full film versions of performing,not just clips. I had seen her only in Jazz on A Summer's Day. It was thrilling to see her jiving with Roy Eldrige in Let Me Off Uptown and the commentators remarking how daring it was in 1941 for a white chick and a black guy to be singing together. When you see her performing as opposed to just listening, you catch her femininity, seductiveness, liveliness. I have all her LPs and CDS but seeing them in order on the screen showed her huge body of work. She was incredibly versatile and her style is shown to change and diversify over the years.I have read that the uvula explanation for lack of a vibrato was not true. It was great to hear her explain how she sang, why she used her unique timing. Contrasting with this are the sadness of the tiny trailer she ended up in, having to read the lyrics she used to know and her comment to the effect that she ends up either a singer or a bird without a song. She seems to dismiss the whole body of work that precedes that last CD.I saw her live at the Rainbow Grill in 1994 for 2 shows and despite her being off heroin, she was not doing well at that time with alcohol as I myself witnessed. The multi-colored graphics were great and most of the interviewers interesting although a few more critical ones and less hagiographic ones would have been more interesting.Great film, best singer ever!

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.