[M. Espinola]

Anita O'day could scat right up there with Miss Ella!

The jazz world has lost one of the greats.

Anita O'Day, the last surviving member of the pantheon of great jazz singers (whose ranks also include Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan), passed away Thanksgiving morning at the age of 87.

JAZZ GREAT ANITA O'DAY Carnegie Hall, New York City , 1974

[LibFreeOrDie]

For those of us old enough to remember the great lady jazz singers, this is sad...

She was still working, and recorded her last album a year ago, on her 86th birthday.

[SamAdams76]

Damn, all the great ones are dying. When will the madness end? Soon, there will be no more music.

The sheer amount of dead musicians is staggering. Maynard Ferguson, he is flying high no more. Freddy Fender shall be lapsing into Spanish no more. McFadden & Whitehead - both dead. Half of the Beatles are dead (3/5th if you include Billy Preston) and Roy Orbison too. Johnny Cash and Johnny Paycheck, both dead. And Waylon Jennings too.

The drummer for that band whose name I cannot remember - dead as a doornail. Syd Barrett is no longer shining on like a crazy diamond. Benjamin Orr of The Cars is dead and Laura Branigan is too. John Fogerty is gone along with John Denver and John Coltrane. That makes a lot of dead Johns.

The sad list goes on and on. Andy Gibb, Maurice Gibb and that lead singer of that band Nirvana. Tiny Tim is dead and so is that woman who sang with the Pogues (I think her name might have been Kirsty McCall). I could go on all night naming names of dead musicians but I think my point is made. Soon, we will have nobody making music because they all end up dying. What is it with musicians that the Grim Reaper finds so appealing?

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Sad news . . . Anita was second only to Ella in my book. Her scat version of "Four Brothers" is one of my all-time faves. And her performance in the movie "Jazz On a Summer's Day" is a classic.

Rest easy Anita, and thank you for all of the great music. You will be missed.

[real saxophonist]

I played with her at the Savannah Jazz Festival, I think it might have been 1988 or so. She put on a great show.

[Fierce Allegiance]

My momma probably has half of those albums in her collection, and I've heard them all.

RIP!

[Larry Lucido]

Honeysuckle Rose

Lest there be any confusion:

And [on Seinfeld] the late Artie Shaw allegedly recorded a hidden gem of a tune called "Honeysuckle Jump" (though Elaine Benes' big-band radio-contest winner was more likely a real-life hybrid of Count Basie's "Honeysuckle Rose" and "One O'Clock Jump").

[stop_fascism]

She had a lot of grit, to live her life for 87 years. Not many people could sing a song like Ms. O'Day. She could make the telephone book swing. RIP.