[TPIN] Anita O'day

[Richard Mason]

I wanted to share a sad note that one of my favorite singers passed on Thursday morning.  Anita O'Day was 87.
   
  I first heard her in the early 60's on some 1940's Kenton recordings.  Then I heard "Let me off uptown" with Roy Eldridge and I was hooked. (It sold over 1 million copies in the mid 40's.)  She peaked my interest in singers and indirectly introduced me to a string of singers like June Christy, Chris Connors, Helen Forrest, Martha Tilton, and other big band singers that I would otherwise have ignored.  This opened up a whole new horizon of choices of notes and phrasing that most horn players don't pay attention to.
   
  Milt Hinton told me that the difference between a great player and a good player is the choice of notes.  A good player doesn't play good notes.  They will play notes that fit, but aren't always the best choice.  A great player players good notes that fit and add to the music.
   
  She always sang good notes.
   
  Richard Mason
  Denver, CO
   
   
   
   



Richard Mason, MSEE, MCSE, MCDBA

Dazzle Development Corporation

Centennial, CO 80122

303-792-3475

 
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