“Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. And start all over again.” This was one of my stepfather’s records and I pulled it out of his small collection when I was about 14 (maybe the cover piqued my pubescent interest).   Anita O’Day remains maybe my favorite female jazz vocalist. When I first moved to New York, I hitchhiked to see her at a small club in New Jersey and sat and spoke with her for about an hour.

Cover photo by the great Herman Leonard. Buddy Bregman arranges and conducts.

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. Born in Chicago, O’Day gained national attention as the girl singer with drummer Gene Krupa’s orchestra on the hit record “Let Me Off Uptown.” After two tenures with Krupa and one, inbetween, with Stan Kenton and his Orchestra, O’Day became a solo star and, along with Fitzgerald and Vaughan, a founding fore-mother ofmodern jazz vocals. Known for her inventive scatting as well as her touching balladeering, O’Day recorded several dozen classic albums, mostly for the Verve label in the 1950s. Ms. O’Day was often as flamboyant visually as she was innovative vocally, evidence of which can be found in the films “The Gene Krupa Story” and “Jazz On A Summer’s Day. A survivor of both heroin and alcohol addiction, she was also the author of one of the great jazz memoirs, “Hard Times, High Times” and the subject of a full-length documentary film, ‘Anita O’Day – The Life of A Jazz Singer’ which is currently in the final stages of completion. –Will Friedwald November 23, 2006

(13 votes, average: 4.46 out of 5)

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Cover design by Reid Miles. Photo by Francis Wolff. Recording by Rudy Van Gelder. Notes by Robert Levin. Blue Note 1577. (1957)   Coltrane’s only date as a leader for Blue Note and after A Love Supreme his best selling record.   A highlight in Blue Note’s amazing catalog and for sure a “desert island disc”!

Lee Morgan (T), Curtis Fuller (Tb), John Coltrane (TS), Kenny Drew (P), Paul Chambers (B), “Philly” Joe Jones (D)

Side One: Blue Train, Moment’s Notice Side Two: Locomotion, I’m Old Fashioned, Lazy Bird

(43 votes, average: 4.81 out of 5)

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Man, what a great cover! representing the best of American 20th Century arts.   Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong 1956.   A desert island disc for sure. So good they had to do it again in 1957 (“Ella and Louis Again”)

Cover photo: Phil Stern Producer: Norman Granz

With the Oscar Peterson Trio of Ray Brown on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar plus Buddy Rich on drums.

“In such a palmy setting, Armstrong is in simple, unraffish condition and Ella is in impeccable voice”

A classic recording of standards including “Moonlight in Vermont,” They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” “Tenderly,” “A Foggy Day,” “Stars Fell on Alabama,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “The Nearness of You,” and others.

(19 votes, average: 4.32 out of 5)

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The Modern Jazz Quartet. John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath and Connie Kay. Atlantic Records 1265 (1957) Featuring Medley: They Say It’s Wonderful/How Deep is the Ocean/I Don’t Stand A Ghost of a Chance with You/My Old Flame/Body and Soul; Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea; La Ronde: Drums; A Night In Tunisia; Yesterdays; Bags’ Groove; Baden-Baden.   Cover photo: Fabian Bachrach / Recording engineer: Tom Dowd / Supervision: Nesuhi Ertegun / Liner notes: Nat Hentoff

(16 votes, average: 3.94 out of 5)

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Oscar Peterson, Piano; Ray Brown, Bass; Barney Kessel, Guitar and Alvin Stoller, Drums. Cover by David Stone Martin. Recorded 1952 in Los Angeles for Verve.

(17 votes, average: 4.71 out of 5)

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Vito Price and Company: Price, Tenor and Alto Sax; Levy, Piano; Bennett, Bass; Green, Guitar. (Other tracks feature a larger group.)

Cover Photo and Design: Don Bronstein / Recording Engineer: Jack Wiener / Liner Notes: Don Gold / Argo LP 631 / Recorded 1958

(13 votes, average: 4.31 out of 5)

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Caligraphy by Andy Warhol’s mother. Designed by Reid Miles. Written by Stewart Preston. A rare Moondog lp on Prestige. 1957.

(9 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

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