Anita O'Day - Verve Jazz Masters 49

Here's the thing about Anita O'Day: I always forget about how great she is because I'm always listening to my other favorite ladies of jazz (Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Sara Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and billions of others).

Anita O'Day sings the kind of songs that, if you find yourself and your significant other the last two non-employees in a jazz club and you're still there although the barkeep has put most of the chairs up, you can hold each other tight and slowly shuffle like they do in the romantic scenes in so many movies. There are only a couple upbeat numbers on this disc, and more than a handful of slow shuffle with the lights down low songs. Take, for instance, "Fly Me to the Moon." This is usually an upbeat and bouncy little ditty, but Anita O'Day turns it into a sultry late night closing time slow shuffle song. Anita's voice is smooth and silky and perfectly suited to every song on this album. Listening to this excellent Verve compilation mainly reminded me that I need to listen to Anita O'Day more often.

Baleeted? Nope. But don't think the wife and I won't be giving this a spin soon.