Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. All Reet
2. Georgia on My Mind
3. Fool Am I
4. Let's Get Away from It All
5. Just a Little Bit South of North Carolina
6. Slow Down
7. I Take to You
8. Green Eyes
9. Let Me Off Uptown
10. Kick It
11. Stop! The Red Light's On
12. Walls Keep Talking
13. Two in Love
14. Stop! The Red Light's On
15. How Do?
16. Coppin' a Plea
17. Bolero at the Savoy
18. Skylark
19. Bolero at the Savoy
20. Thanks for the Boogie Ride
21. Pass the Bounce
22. Side by Side
23. Harlem on Parade

Disc 2:

1. Fightin' Doug MacArthur
2. That's What You Think
3. Barrelhouse Bessie from Basin Street
4. Deliver Me to Tennessee
5. Massachusetts
6. Murder, He Says
7. Ride On
8. Build It Up, Paint It Nice, Tear It Down
9. I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City
10. You Betcha!
11. In a Little Spanish Town
12. I'm Going Mad for a Pad
13. And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine
14. Lady in Red
15. Gotta' Be Gettin'
16. Tabby the Cat
17. Gotta' Be Gettin'
18. Wish You Were Waitin' for Me
19. And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine
20. Are You Livin' Old Man?
21. I Want a Grown-Up Man
22. Travelin' Man

Disc 3:

1. Them There Eyes
2. Memories of You
3. How Come?
4. I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me
5. Ain't Misbehavin'
6. Penthouse Serenade (When We're Alone)
7. Rosetta
8. Opus One
9. (Did You Ever Get) That Feeling in the Moonlight?
10. Boogie Blues
11. Chickery Chick
12. In the Middle of May
13. Boogie Blues
14. In the Middle of May
15. Tea for Two
16. Harriet
17. Ace in the Hole
18. Sometimes I'm Happy - Anita O'Day, Anita O'Day
19. What Is This Thing Called Love?
20. Hi Ho Trailus Boot Whip
21. I Told Ya I Love Ya, Now Get Out
22. It's Different When It Happens to You

Disc 4:

1. How High the Moon
2. I Ain't Gettin' Any Younger
3. Malaguena
4. Key Largo
5. Malaguena
6. What Is This Thing Called Love?
7. September in the Rain
8. Jamaica Mon
9. Don't Kick It Around
10. So Much of Nothing to Do
11. Poor Simple Simon
12. Blues for Bojangles
13. Your Eyes Are Bigger Than Your Heart
14. Tennessee Waltz
15. Yea Boo
16. Something I Dreamed Last Night
17. If I Could Steal You from Somebody Else
18. You Took Advantage of Me
19. Once There Lived a Fool
20. I Apologize
21. Black Moonlight
22. Lovesick Blues

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51666 in Music
• Released on: 2001-05-28
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Import

Album Description
Anita O'Day is the epitome of a jazz singer. A fearless performer and a vocal risk-taker, In other words a true jazz singer. This box set features her early adventures with Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton and her first solo sides, fresh and invigorating. This box features 89 tracks and includes a 52 page illustrated booklet that tells her story and provides track and session details as well as including many archive images. Tracks include: 'Georgia on my Mind', 'Let me Off Uptown', 'Bolero at the Savoy' and 'Tennessee Waltz'. Four standard jewel cases housed in a slip-box. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews

Great music at a low price
It would be difficult to find a better deal for a jazz fan. Compilatons for artists of the stature of Anita are usually much more expensive. Anita O'Day's early recordings have been difficult to find and when available have been costly. This 4 CD set brings together all her comercial recordings from the 40's with a few air-checks and alternate takes.

Anita O'Day is probably best known for her solo career in the 50's, 60's and 70's when she created a style of singing that is still being immatated. Her early recordings show that in her younger years as a big band singer she had as strong an influance on that era as she did in later years. She was one of 4 or 5 female vocalists who defind the the big band style. During the time of these recordings, she was THE big band singer. She was the coolest, the hippest, the swingingest, the brattyest, and the one who taught everyone how to sing a fast song with style and without sounding rushed. You can easily hear this on "Green Eyes" where another singer sings the first chorus in a tense rushed manner, to be followed by Anita at a faster tempo but sailing through it like a cloud on a summer's day. Even Ella Fitzgerald, although promising, was still too young at that time to be at Anita's level. Anita's recordings with the Krupa band are some of the hottest of the big band era. These CD also cover the beginning of her solo career, and the emergance of an even more interesting and intimate style that was to facinate audiences in the 50's 60's and 70's. This collection shows that Anita was always a great artist, even in the beginning of her career, and the price of the collection makes it an unbelievable steal.

One-stop shopping for early Anita!
Having owned several expensive French imports for the various years of early Anita O'Day performances, I can say that the Proper Box set is an incredible value. They have taken almost all of her early performances with various small groups and large bands (including Krupa, Kenton, and Basie!) and put them all in one place, in chronological order and with decent sound. What's more, they put out an excellent booklet, with biography, photos, and complete discocraphy...kind of a mini-mosaic! Unlike some of her later, more sophisticated (and occasionally flat) performances, she is heard on these discs with a slightly less husky voice and always spot-on in tune and musically swinging.

As another viewer has pointed out, this set contains material that has fallen out of copyright while the artist is still living and she won't receive any royalties from this issue. I suggest he send her a check to salve his conscience and then go back to enjoying the music! Proper has done other great box sets of Django Reinhardt, Fats Navarro, Charlie Parker, and Bud Powell among others and I say more power to them! Another british company, JSP, offers similar box sets with remastering and extensive documentation and Mosaic, the leader in this field actually buys limited copyrights from the parent labels. If you can afford it, Mosaic puts out the highest quality sets.

Great music, great price!
I purchased this box set with very little prior knowledge of this genre of music and I am extremely pleased with it. I played this at my workplace and many of my coworkers complimented the music. Some people might criticize the albums' quality of sound but I think that's just part of the allure -- to give you that "old-time" feel. It's a great starter set at a great price. This music lifts the spirits and makes a room smile!