Fascinating documentary on a great jazz singer who should be more well known. It was a tough life for Anita but the pluck which saw her through many hard times, some admittedly of her own making, is showcased front and center by reminiscences from the lady herself and backed by the people who either knew her when or admire her now. The documentary gives a sense of what kind of life was lived on the road by musicians when communities were scattered and touring was truly done in beat-up old buses and the sense of rootlessness that engendered. Some wonderful performances are highlighted and some terrific tales told of a certain kind of entertainment that is hard to find today.

This is a marvelous film, a worthy tribute to one of the giants of jazz. I was a bit worried at the gimmicky opening -- in which a clip of Anita O'Day was subjected to bizarre color patterns, mirror images and re-editing -- but as the film went on it settled into a conventional but appealing music-documentary groove with O'Day's interviews (some archival, some done especially for this film) providing commentary and context to her career. Filmmakers Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden deserve credit for presenting O'Day's performances, if not as complete songs start-to-finish, at least in long enough clips so you could appreciate her (all too many music documentarians just give us a few seconds here and there, or have people talking over the clips). Though this film is aimed mostly at O'Day's fans, "newbies" can watch it and at least get an idea of what made her so great.One aspect of the film that fascinated me was O'Day's comment that in order to be a great jazz musician you had to live the "jazz life." I can think of quite a few people on her level of talent -- Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie -- who had long and prosperous careers by avoiding substance abuse and the other pitfalls of the so-called "jazz life." The only part of the movie that really rubbed me the wrong way, though, was the interview clip with the late Leonard Feather (with which the filmmakers seemed to agree) in which he said that O'Day was the only white woman jazz singer he regarded as the artistic equal of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan. What about June Christy, Chris Connor, Peggy Lee or -- in the generation just before O'Day's -- Mildred Bailey (an obvious influence on O'Day's style) and the Boswell Sisters?

The movie didn't need to have anything new about O'Day. It had chronological full film versions of performing,not just clips. I had seen her only in Jazz on A Summer's Day. It was thrilling to see her jiving with Roy Eldrige in Let Me Off Uptown and the commentators remarking how daring it was in 1941 for a white chick and a black guy to be singing together. When you see her performing as opposed to just listening, you catch her femininity, seductiveness, liveliness. I have all her LPs and CDS but seeing them in order on the screen showed her huge body of work. She was incredibly versatile and her style is shown to change and diversify over the years.I have read that the uvula explanation for lack of a vibrato was not true. It was great to hear her explain how she sang, why she used her unique timing. Contrasting with this are the sadness of the tiny trailer she ended up in, having to read the lyrics she used to know and her comment to the effect that she ends up either a singer or a bird without a song. She seems to dismiss the whole body of work that precedes that last CD.I saw her live at the Rainbow Grill in 1994 for 2 shows and despite her being off heroin, she was not doing well at that time with alcohol as I myself witnessed. The multi-colored graphics were great and most of the interviewers interesting although a few more critical ones and less hagiographic ones would have been more interesting.Great film, best singer ever!

I saw this tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.Anita O'Day's story was well documented in her autobiography "High Times, Hard Times", which is respected for its unflinching candor. The best feature of this documentary is the clips of Anita's performances, many of which have never been seen before. It includes, of course, her landmark performance of 'Sweet Georgia Brown' from the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, and several other performances that evidence her right to be considered one of jazz's finest vocalists. In addition to these clips there are interviews with jazz luminaries including George Wein (legendary founder of the Newport Jazz Festival), Margaret Whiting, and Dr. Billy Taylor. These experts credibly testify about Anita's genius and her standing relative to other jazz singers who obtained greater celebrity, such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughn.This documentary does not provide new information about either Anita's private life or career, but it is important as a tribute to a singer whose talent justified greater acclaim than she received.