Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer.

"The great jazz singer Anita O'Day operated in some far-out be-bop realm of her own, a small kingdom of dingy nightclubs and brute-force trios where she flashed her sharp, pretty teeth and her knowing cartoon eyes while living on the edge of music and even consciousness," writes Dan Callahan, who, in his review of Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer at the House Next Door, recalls interviewing the woman herself in 2000.

"Ms O'Day, who died two years ago at 87, invented a cool, dry jazz singing style that influenced many, most notably June Christy and Chris Connor," writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times. "It was all about rhythm, improvisation and hip attitude. What repeatedly comes to mind when people invoke Ms O'Day is her feral, instinctive drive for freedom, both artistic and personal."

Jim Ridley in the Voice: "A good deal livelier than the usual music-doc embalming, this worshipful tribute to jazz singer Anita O'Day - completed shortly before her death in 2006 by her then manager, Robbie Cavolina, and co-director Ian McCrudden - is rescued from its own adoration (and too-busy faux-50s graphics) by its subject: a tough cookie, racetrack devotee, and brassy raconteur who may be the least self-pitying reformed addict in the history of pop biographies."

"Unfortunately, the barrage of accolades is so uniformly positive and the sluice of memories so identically appreciative and forgiving that the film assumes a retirement-dinner testimonial monotony that is at odds with O'Day's picaresque personal history and off-kilter bandstand charisma," writes Bruce Bennett in the New York Sun.

"As a work of cinema, the film is merely passable," writes Matt Noller in Slant. "As an educational document, it's a little more effective—its parade of facts and interviews probably won't be anything new to fans, but for a jazz - ignorant square like myself it was fairly fascinating - but as a tribute to its star, it's damn near essential."

Earlier: Alan Vanneman remembers O'Day at Bright Lights After Dark.

Posted by dwhudson at August 15, 2008 9:20 AM