| Review:
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The challenge of any music documentary paying tribute
to a performer, in this case jazz singer Anita O'Day, is
to succeed in capturing enough of the essence of that talent
to thrill all audiences and not just jazz lovers. And when
the individual in question is still alive - as O'Day was,
though she passed away later in 2006 at the age of 87 -
the task is clearly more problematic in terms of delicate
issues to be probed with sufficient candor.***
Anita O'Day: The Life Of A Jazz Singer succeeds admirably
in the first instance, and understandably less so in the
matter of potentially stripping away and laying bare, painful
memories and difficult wounds. And while a close personal
friendship with O'Day infuses the work with a singular intimacy
and brings forth revelations possibly not otherwise at hand
- Robbie Cavolina, who co-directed with Ian McCrudden, was
her manager for the final six years of her life - that kind
of subjectivity also has the potential to limit the scrutiny
of the cinematic inquiry.***
The material that these filmmakers have garnered provides
a rich tapestry of O'Day's evolution, and the development
of a profoundly expressive and charismatic jazz artist who
explored the enormous range of her vocal gifts across the
many decades with an astonishing imaginative subversion
of any musical status quo. O'Day is seen likewise playfully
challenging the accepted race and gender conventions on
stage, as she defiantly crossed racial lines to perform
without inhibition with black musicians, and refused the
traditional feminine evening gowns deemed appropriate for
women on stage, in favor of a more casual, sporty look.***
The film dazzles with its musical portrait of this
unsung legend, which leads to a yearning to know much more.
Except for some spare anecdotal material provided by jazz
experts and O'Day herself, there's little in the way of
exactly how, when and where this gifted woman seems to have
suddenly popped up on the stage out of nowhere. And though
there are solemn and at times oddly humorous digressions
into the matter of her long struggle with heroin addiction,
other personal traumas such as enduring rape, are mentioned
more than once in passing, but never explained.***
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| Special
Features: |
Disc 1: The movie with Director's audio commentary and
French, Spanish and Japanese subtitles.***
Disc 2: Bonus Disc with 45 minutes of the uninterrupted
musical performances from the film and 45 minutes of outtake
interviews of Anita. There will also be a 32 page full color
booklet including essays by jazz novelist Jim Gavin and
jazz critic/author Will Friedwald; a selected chapter from
Anita's autobiography, High Times Hard Times; and sixteen
pages reproduced from Anita's personal scrapbooks.***
Deluxe Limited Edition: A 9 x 9" black burnished fabric
covered hardbound book containing over 160 full color pages,
including Anita's complete scrapbooks as well as all the
material included in the basic retail release.***
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