ANITA O´DAY & CAL TJADER: Time for two

ANITA O´DAY & CAL TJADER
Cal Tjader é figurinha carimbada no blog e dispensa apresentação. Anita O´Day inaugurou - quando cantava com Stan Kenton - o estilo "desuvulado", seguido por Helen Merrill, Chris Connor, June Christy, Julie London e tantas outras cantoras notáveis. Ah, antes que você me pergunte: a úvula - aquela "campainha" da garganta - de Anita foi extirpada por acidente, numa mal sucedida operação de amigdalas. Mas valeu a pena, pois Anita passou a cantar sem "vibrato". Kenton adorou e depois que Anita deixou a banda, ele saiu em busca de cantoras que seguissem o estilo "sultry, warm & cool" de Anita. Felizmente, encontrou várias, cada uma melhor que a outra...

(*) Ah, ia me esquecendo: em 1984, em São Paulo, assisti à apresentação de Anita O´Day no 150, do Maksoud Plaza. Mal humorada que só ela, ignorou a imprensa, não deu a mínima para a platéia e não voltou pro "bis". Essa era a Anita, a "Jezebel" do Jazz. Na ocasião fiz amizade com o pianista do grupo de Anita, HAROLD DANKO, que voltei a encontrar em New York, tocando no Village Vanguard.

(**)O nosso grande EDISON MACHADO foi baterista de um quarteto liderado por HAROLD DANK0, em New York.
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ANITA O´DAY
Anita O'Day, a member of the pantheon of great jazz singers (whose ranks also include Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan), passed away Thanksgiving morning (November, 1986) at the age of 87. Born in Chicago, O'Day
gained national attention as the girl singer with drummer Gene Krupa's orchestra on the hit record "Let Me Off Uptown." After two tenures with Krupa and one, inbetween, with Stan Kenton and his Orchestra, O'Day became a solo star and, along with Fitzgerald and Vaughan, a founding fore-mother ofmodern jazz vocals. Known for her inventive scatting as well as her touching balladeering, O'Day recorded several dozen classic albums, mostly for the Verve label in the 1950s. Ms. O'Day was often as flamboyant visually as she was innovative vocally, evidence of which can be found in the films "The Gene Krupa Story" and "Jazz On A Summer's Day. A survivor of both heroin and alcohol addiction, she was also the author of one of the great jazz memoirs, "Hard Times, High Times" and the subject of a full-length documentary film, 'Anita O'Day - The Life of A Jazz Singer' which is currently in the final stages of completion. Anita O'Day was never just another big-band canary. Like Holiday, O'Day combined the soaring freedom of a jazz instrumentalist with the storytelling
lyricism of a poet. She often said she was a "stylist," not a "singer," which was correct, but only in a minimal sense. From the moment she broke through to a national audience via the briskly swinging encounter with trumpeter Roy Eldridge in the Gene Krupa Band's recording of "Let Me Off Uptown" to her splendid Verve
recordings of the '50s, and her comebacks in the '70s and again in the '90s, she was instantly recognizable, an utter original. Yes, "stylist," but much more. Like Frank Sinatra, she balanced the rhythmic songs that were generally considered to be her forte with an approach to ballads that varied from seductive intimacy to sardonic irony.
(By Will Friedwald edited by CB)
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ALBUM REVIEW:
Both Anita O'Day and Cal Tjader are strong believers in improvising, together they swing through some excellent material including an afro-cuban swing version of Mr Sandman which actually sounds hip. O'Day with her completley black phrasing is perfect with Tjader's afro-cubam rhythms, also includes swing, blues, standards, all with a touch of hot jazz. Highlights include "That's Your Red Wagon" "Peel Me A Grape" and an absolutly hot version of "Mr Sandman". Highly recommended as are all of Miss O"Day's Verves.
(From Amazon.com)

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MINHA OPINIÃO - só podia ser bom...Reunir O´Day e Tjader não podia dar errado. Um luxo.

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ANITA O´DAY & CAL TJADER: Time for two
Recorded in Hollywood, California in February 1962.

PERSONNEL:
Anita O'Day (vocals)
Cal Tjader, Johnnie Rae (vibraphone, drums)
Freddy Schreiber (bass)
Bob Corwin or Lonnie Hewitt (piano)

TRACKS/FAIXAS:
1. Thanks For The Memory
2. It Shouldn't Happen To A Dream
3. Just In Time
4. Under A Blanket Of Blue
5. That's Your Red Wagon
6. Peel Me A Grape
7. An Occasional Man
8. The Party's Over
9. I Believe In You
10. Mister Sandman
11. Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
12. I'm Not Supposed To Be Blue Blues