Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsCool Heat? How About Cold Trash!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 15, 2012
It never ceases to amaze me how some people continue to delude themselves concerning Anita O'day. Let's be honest, the woman just could not sing. Her most ardent supporter Norman Granz acknowledged she had a very small voice, with a thin uninspring timbre, serious intonation problems that prevented her from singing in tune. Her singing and scatting (like Chris Connor's) was full of affectations, and her range was practically non-existant. When Creed Taylor produced her LP with Cal Tjader (Time For Two), he openly confessed he had to double her voice and use extra miking techniques or she would have been completely drowned out. To be fair she could at least keep time, but truth be told that was as far as she got.
Initially (like most white so-called jazz singers of the day), she tried to be a clone of her idol Billie Holiday. When that didn't work she tried extremely hard to be ultra hip like her Black contemporaries. Sadly that proved to be embarrassingly futile as well. Although she consistently worked at it, her scatting was just plain abysmal. Rhythmically she put up a good front, lyrically she just couldn't cut it. Her consonants, syllables and vowel sounds were always wrong, and her inflections and nuances were consistently artificial. She just couldn't grasp the concept. Vocally all of her albums (with the exception of the one with Oscar Peterson's Trio) are excruciating to the ear. Sadly "Cool Heat" with Jimmy Guiffre is no exception.
The arrangements are so thought out and unappealing they are extremely constraining. Add to that this horrible selection of tunes and her pitiful stuggling attempts to stay on key and it gives the impression that she is caught in the middle of a jagged tornado, ripping her to shreds while fighting for her very life. Ultimately she is killed in the process. This album is horrible and indeed one of her worst, and sadly they all are pretty bad. Anita was fiercely promoted as the "great white hope". There was an overwhelming need in the white jazz community at that time (and still is) for somebody to be held up as a quality female singer who could interpret this African-American artform. Norman Granz chose Anita. I don't know why. Annie Ross was more than capable and qualified. She blew Anita out of the water. Out of all of Stan Kenton's vast stable of singers, Anita came nowhere near the level of a Jerri Winters or June Christy. Miss Christy may have had intonation problems of her own, but she was at least an excellent and authentic storyteller. Alas poor Anita was not. There were several white jazz singers with excellent instruments who were far superior to Anita O'Day. Most were sparsely recorded but better nonetheless. Polly Bergen, Jerri Winters, Ann Richards, Thelma Gracen, Pinky Winters, Claudia Thompson and Donna Fuller for a start.You have Helen Merrill, Irene Kral, Bev Kelly to name a few. Anita got all of the best promotion, opportunities, and breaks but she could never deliver the goods. Sadly "Cool Heat" just didn't make the grade either.
No matter how hard you try, you just can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. If you want to hear some excellent Jimmy Guiffre arrangements behind a real Jazz Singer check out LURLEAN HUNTERS' "BLUE AND SENTIMENTAL" and compare the two. Oh! I'm sorry, your right! There is no comparison!
