Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Anita O'Day

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 26, 2004)
• Original Release Date: June 6, 1960
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Verve
• ASIN: B0002XNLY2
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #150,342 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Anita O'Day became famous as a big-band singer in the 1940s. But much of her lasting fame also stems from the albums she made for Verve between 1956 and 1962, which collectively stand as a Bible of cool. Recorded in 1960, Anita O'Day And Billy May Swing Rodgers And Hart followed on the heels of O'Day's and arranger Billy May's tribute to Cole Porter, proving once again that she and May were meant for each other. May's masterful arrangements ingnite that imitable O'Day insouciance; her exacting phrasing, calculated dissonances, and tart wit, transform each song into a swinging salute to Rodgers and Hart, line for line. Timbre alone cannot guarantee a listener's interest in familiar material, however. And when Anita O'Day joins with Billy May to get off a dozen Rogers and Hart standards, both singer and arranger-conductor rely on their ingenuity to show what can be done with show music. They set themselves a similar assignment sometime back when they cut a Cole Porter album and immediately revived interest in several seemingly too-well-known ballads. Now they have used the same proficiency on twelve songs which have become part of our national cultural legacy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 28 MINUTES, November 16, 2004

By	alain robert (ST-HUBERT,QUÉBEC) - See all my reviews

I thought the bonus tracks were hidden before i found out that they did not included any.The COLE PORTER disc had 6.It is hard to imagine a cd lasting less than 30 minutes.They could have included at least THE LADY IS A TRAMP and I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TIME IT WAS.As it is,it is still worthwhile for the RODGERS and HART fan.One can imagine the reaction of DICK RODGERS when he heard HAVE YOU MET MISS JONES done in the uptempo style.It seems that TEN CENTS A DANCE could have been written for ANITA because she sings it so well.I think that FRANK SINATRA was right when he said that working with BILLY MAY,the arranger-conductor was like someone trowing a buckett full of water in your face.However,the RODGERS and HART set of BUDDY BREGMAN and ELLA FITZGERALD remains the best tribute of that time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful cd reissue, May 4, 2006

By	40s50sfan "40s50sfan" (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews

I love this cd. The coarse beauty of Anita O'Day's voice and the beautiful formality of the strings on "It Never Entered My Mind", "Spring Is Here" and "Little Girl Blue" is very evocative and moving. It's different in tone from Anita O'Day Swings Cole Porter, obviously, since these are two different composers. I never knew Billy May could arrange so well for strings.