Anita O'Day - Sweet Georgia Brown & Tea for Two (Live @ Newport Jazz Festival 1958)
Anita O'Day (October 18, 1919 -- November 23, 2006) was an American jazz singer. Born Anita Belle Colton, O'Day was admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the "girl singer". Refusing to pander to any female stereotype, O'Day presented herself as a "hip" jazz musician, wearing a band jacket and skirt as opposed to an evening gown. She changed her surname from Colton to O'Day, pig Latin for "dough," slang for money. She appears in this documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day, filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, which increased her popularity. She admitted later that she was probably high on heroin during the concert. She also said that it was the best day of her life in that hers was the star performance of the festival and she made the cover of national magazines for it. Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960) is a documentary film set at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, co-filmed and co-directed by commercial and fashion photographer Bert Stern and director Aram Avakian, who also edited the movie. It was written by Albert D'Annibale and Arnold Perl. The Columbia Records jazz producer, George Avakian, was the musical director of the film. The film mixes images of water and the city with the performers and audience at the festival. It also features scenes of the 1958 America's Cup yacht races. The film is largely without dialog or narration (except for periodic announcements by emcee Willis Conover). The film features performances by Jimmy Giuffre, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, Anita O'Day, Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan, Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong, and Jack Teagarden. Also appearing are Buck Clayton, Jo Jones, Armando Peraza, and Eli's Chosen Six, the Yale College student ensemble that included trombonist Roswell Rudd, shown driving around Newport in a convertible jalopy, playing Dixieland. Many performances ran so long that the last act, Mahalia Jackson, did not appear on stage until after midnight, performing The Lord's Prayer. In 1999, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
