“The Swingin’ Jezebel: Anita O’Day In The 1940s”

[ghost of miles]

Posting this week’s Night Lights show today in honor of Anita O’Day’s centenary:

The Swingin’ Jezebel: Anita O’Day In The 1940s

 

[Big Beat Steve]

Her recordings for Signature have indeed been under the radar, falling between the Krupa and Granz/Verve periods.

But I wonder what made the Doctor Jazz label (that reissued a lot of Signature sessions) use such idiotic cover "art"work for this 1984 reissue (the previous 1974 reissue on Flying Dutchman wasn't much better)?
Were they all out to shove some money photographer buddy David Redfern's way, kicking any stylistic consistency between cover "art" and the contents in the you know where? Sorry to say, but this kind of '"art"work would probably not have hit it with many of those 40s jazz collectors who were looking for these particular recordings (and would not have made them fall all over themselves to pull this one out of the racks), and I doubt her then-current recordings were a big draw either so I don't think they were trying to lure people into taking this for then-recent recordings. So what WERE they thinking?

 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Big Beat Steve

[ghost of miles]

Yeah, that's definitely weird!  I used a couple of Signature recordings in the show--"What Is This Thing Called Love" and "Key Largo."  There are also a couple of live performances with Count Basie's big band at the Royal Roost circa 1948 in there as well.  This is the CD that I have the Signature material on (although I think most of it also appears on Proper's Young Anita box-set):

Edited October 18, 2019 by ghost of miles