Top 10 Jazz recordings ever

Rok, jazz aficionado that I am, I never heard of the bass player either. I discovered that he played with "Basie". I bought that record ages ago, and as long as it's been in my collection, I never knew that I didn't know the bass player. Learn something new every day, even when it's old.

O-10:
A Tale of Two Divas!

I got the Anita O'Day Cds today. I was did not think they lived up to the hype. Her voice is just fine. I would place her in the same voice group as someone like Nancy Wilson, which is not bad at all. Not up there with the heavyweights, but very good.

The problem, was the band backing her, and the arrangements. Some of this music is not Jazz. And even the standards were not sung or played as Jazz.

The best of the ones I received was the 'Anita Sings The Most' disc. On this one, she was backed by Oscar Peterson. This backing made all the difference in the world. They pushed her hard. She stayed with them!

On 'Anita Sings The Winners' There are 19 tracks, but only 12 came off the LP. Some of this filler was just a waste.

Same with the 'Pick Yourself Up' cd. 21 tracks, only 12 off the LP. Just filler. 'Rock and Roll Waltz' was a joke. It killed the entire CD for me.

When she sang 'Body and Soul' on the 'winners' cd, that was enough. I went to my collection and got a disc of Billie Holiday singing Body and Soul. Like, it was not even the same song! Of course Billie had Ben Webster and 'Sweets' edison backing her. I also compared the two on two other songs. 'We'll be together again' & 'They can't take that away from me'. No contest!

I don't think her voice is ideally suited for Jazz. More supper club singer. BUT, I did listen to the two Cds. She is not bad at all. She just needed a real Jazz band (Basie?) to back her, and someone to do proper Jazz arrangements. Or even a smaller Jazz group. The big band she had was not a Jazz band.

I could hear some 'billie' in her phrasing and at times I am sure she was trying to imitate billie to some degree. And that didn't sound bad. She has a good voice.

But, all in all they are keepers. I will just have to hit eject once the real stuff is over and before the filler starts.

Cheers

You need to start a new thread. I just realized this one is not yours.

Rok, you were right about Anita. She went through phases in her long career, and some of it was pop, "A gal had to make a living". My philosophy is "select the best and leave the rest". She's wasn't the same kind of artist like the other jazz vocalists you have in your collection.

I'm going to start a new thread "Jazz for aficionados" in which I'll play a record and review each individual cut. This will begin with the records I consider "must haves". If I find a record that's not on CD, I won't review it. If I find a CD that's clearly inferior to the record, I wont review it. So far I've only found one CD that's clearly inferior to the record. I mention this to let you know, I don't consider not having analog a loss; going halfway is a waste of money, and going all the way is tedious and very expensive.

I'll look for you on "jazz for aficionados"

Enjoy the music.