Jazz vocalist Anita O’Day’s (1919-2006) unique sound and swinging rhythmic sense put her in the upper echelon of jazz singers, and was indeed as skillful with ballads as with Songbook and jazz standards. Her career spanned over 70 years, beginning with in the big band era with stints with the Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and other before launching out as a soloist and prolific recording artist with hundreds of individual sides and over 60 LPs most notably those produced by Verve Records mid-century. “If improvisation is at the heart of jazz,’ wrote critic John Voorhees in 1964, “then Anita O’Day is at the heart of vocal improvisation. Imaginative invention springs forth in a great stream, no matter what the tune or the tempo, resulting in jazz statements that are always exciting, always listenable, always musical and highly personal.”