Here’s the great Anita O’Day, proving that you can sing summer jazz in a feathered hat, high heels and dainty white gloves.
Almost as awesome are the 1958 sunglasses scattered throughout the crowd. (In those days, even the hipsters were tidy.) O’Day herself didn’t always dress up:
With her trademark “one of the boys” attitude, O’Day typically wore a band jacket matching the uniforms of the instrumentalists over a plain blouse and skirt rather than the sort of the glamorous gowns favored by other female vocalists. Whatever might have been lacking in her dress and natural beauty, however, O’Day more than compensated with the brash sexuality and swagger that permeated her performances.
Indeed. And she really relishes adding not much after the line you know I don’t lie. (Yes, that clever touch is part of the original lyrics.)
The clip (which we found on Jazz on the Tube) is from the 1960 film Jazz On a Summer’s Day, which was something of a landmark in music documentaries.
More on the singer: Anita O’Day, 1919-2006 »