Rest in Peace, Belle.

I first heard Anita O'Day on an old box-set my folks had called "Big Bands Revisited". The cut was "Let Me Off Uptown"; and was a duet between O'Day and trumpeter Roy Eldridge with the Gene Krupa band. That the two did not like each other in real life will come as a shock to the average listener, but then, these two musicians were pros, even if O'Day was only in her 20's at the time. The song was an instant hit in my young ears, yet it took me another 30 years to actually buy a full recording of Anita's.

Those in-between years were occupied with other musical interests, from r'n'b to disco to new wave. When I reached my mid 20's I began buying all I could find (and afford) of Billie Holiday. Then I started in on Frank Sinatra, with a lot of help from my mom's side of the record cabinet, followed soon by Ella Fitgerald, with briefer offshoots into Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, and Sarah Vaughan. A singer myself I tend to veer towards the canaries.

Eventually, I made it back to Anita, born Anita Belle Colton in 1919. Don't know the impetus, either a remembered interview with her by Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes" or just catching her fabulous performance in "Jazz on a Summer Day" on PBS. Have you seen that film? It's a classic capture of the Newport Jazz Festival of 1958. Anita is fine beyond compare in her couture black hat and gown, getting down on Sweet Georgia Brown like the coolest white chick around, which is exactly what she was at the time. Only Peggy Lee & Ava Gardner also held that title in the '50s.

nita got her title First Lady of Swing fronting the Gene Krupa big band from 1941 to 1943. She moved on to sing for Stan Kenton's orchestra in 1944, when they enjoyed the top 5 hit, "And Her Tears Fell Like Wine".  Shortly afterwards, Anita chose to go solo. After a brief return stint with Krupa, Anita began her slow trek to solo status. With the assist of longtime drummer John Poole, she eventually recorded her first album with fledgling -- and soon-to-be-vital -- jazz label, Verve. Her combo began appearing at jazz festivals along with fellow stars like Dinah Washington & Louis Armstrong, regaining popularity along the way. One of Anita's biggest hits of the period was a cover of Tennessee Waltz, which seems a little ironic, but O'Day has always had a knack for taking chestnuts and standards and revamping them as her own. Take Tea For Two for instance. A sillyass song from vaudeville days which became somehow cool as cooed by Anita.

Following is a discography focusing on Anita's best period, her Verve years, along with a couple of recent compilations. There is also an album called "The First Lady of Swing" featuring her work with Stan Kenton, and one called "Drums, Drums, Drums" which is a Gene Krupa comp with about six tracks featuring O'Day.