Friday, April 4, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM at Regal - Purchase Now
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ANITA O’DAY: THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER USA, 2007, 90 MIN DIRECTED BY ROBBIE CAVOLINA & IAN McCRUDDEN Considered by many to be one of the top five female jazz singers ever - and notably the only Caucasian in the group -- Anita O'Day lived a life that from the outside might look like a catastrophe. She survived four failed marriages, arrests, jail time, alcoholism, rape, abortions and 15 years of heroin addiction. And through it all, she remained dedicated to a simple desire -- she wanted to sing and nothing was going to get in her way. For seven decades, O'Day recorded and toured relentlessly, showcasing an exquisite, smoky vocal style that was tonally pure, rhythmically precise and suffused with dazzling bebop pyrotechnics. Cavolina and McCrudden's heartfelt documentary features stunning vintage clips from O'Day's long career, including jaw-dropping performances from the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and various TV shows, in which O'Day commands both the band and the audience's gaze with a feisty authority not often seen in women of her day. In between performance footage, there are stories aplenty and a portrait of a tough broad who talks like a hard-boiled hipster and likes nothing more than to hang out with the boys in the band (in fact, O'Day often dressed in pants to appear like one of the musicians rather than the dame out front singing). Most refreshing in this era of public humiliation, rehab and repentance (Amy Winehouse anyone?), O'Day refuses to wallow in her misfortunes or see herself as a victim. With the salty spirit of a senior who survived more than we'll ever know, she shrugs off her travails as part and parcel of the jazz life. No more, no less.