Showing posts with label anita o'day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anita o'day. Show all posts

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Anita O'Day Live at Ronnie Scott's 1986



Legendary jazz vocalist Anita O'Day (1919-2006) performs with, among others, her life-long musical partner, John Poole on drums. Acknowledged by many as the world's most inventive jazz singer, she performs a number of classics such as "On Green Dolphin Street," "My Funny Valentine" and "They Can't Take That Away from Me."

Tracklisting

Wave
You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
On Green Dolphin Street
I Can't Get Started
It Don't Mean a Thing
The Street of Dreams
'S Wonderful
They Can't Take That Away from Me
Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby
My Funny Valentine
I Cried for You
Four Brothers
Wave (Reprise)

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Jazz On A Summer's Day (1958)

Hailed by critics to be the best jazz film ever, famous photographer's Bert Stern's Jazz On A Summer's Day lives up to its reputation today.

Shot in Newport, RI during the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and the America's Cup trials of the same year, initially intended as a full length motion picture, it was downsized to a concert documentary due to lack of funds. We have to thank our good luck for this, as this film broke new ground on how a live music performance should be captured. It literally wrote the book.

Shot in lush color instead of the grim black and white used until then, including scenes in broad daylight, interleaving performances with the sailing races going on simultaneously, it made people look at jazz from an entirely different perspective.

This was half a century ago and it really shows. People hit it off very differently back then, as the amazing crowd scenes attest to. With rock 'n roll just around the corner ready to take the popular music scene by storm, these were merrier, more innocent times. Enjoy.