Anita O'Day and
Billy May had met before, on a glorious 1959 date swinging
Cole Porter, before they reconvened just 14 months later to do similar damage to the songbook of
Richard Rodgers and
Lorenz Hart. While
Porter songs such as "Just One of Those Things" and "I Get a Kick out of You" translated well to the high-energy treatment of
May's brassy arrangements and
O'Day's spitfire performances, Rodgers & Hart were a more difficult proposition. Broadway fans could understandably fear that
O'Day and
May would pulverize the waltzing balladry of
Rodgers as well as
Hart's intricate wordplay. They should have realized that, like the breakneck yet technically perfect performances of bop originators
Charlie Parker and
Dizzy Gillespie,
O'Day would miss no subtleties -- and would probably add some of her own -- while she graced these energized versions of American pop classics.
Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart begins on a high note, with the absolutely frenetic "Johnny One Note," and finds
May unsurprisingly goosing several of
Richard Rodgers' wonderful waltzes, including a version of "Lover" that provides the excited American equivalent of
Peggy Lee's bustling, exotic hit version of the same song. Despite her technical gifts,
Anita O'Day still sings a ballad very sweetly, as on "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," although she predictably can't help scatting out the song. She also delivers just the perfect amount of man-killer tartness on the obscure serial-killer tale "To Keep My Love Alive." ~ John Bush