Anita O'Day DVD to be released July 21

ANITA O’DAY THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER, a captivating documentary, directed by Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden, which chronicles the extraordinary life of Anita O’Day, one of the most legendary female jazz vocalists of all time, will be released by RED on DVD on July 21, 2009.

The DVD release follows a successful year-long series of national and international theatrical and festival engagements that have garnered rave reviews, accolades and awards not to mention ecstatic audiences…. “Invaluable,” Chicago Sun-Times; “Enthralling,” New York Times; “O’Day is the epitome of cool, a heartfelt documentary,” The New Yorker; “One of the greatest jazz films ever made,” The Buffalo News; “A masterpiece of the medium,” L.A. Weekly.

The DVD is an intimate portrait of the maverick jazz vocalist Anita O’Day, a self-professed “song-stylist” and rightly known as one of the greatest jazz divas of all time. ANITA O’DAY THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER documents her wild ride; following her career from the early days singing alongside the likes of Gene Krupa, Roy Eldridge, Stan Kenton, Louis Armstrong and Hoagy Carmichael through her many great adversities which she fought to overcome; a 20-year heroin and alcohol addiction, several failed marriages, abortions and arrests and finally, her last-hurrah album, completed just before the singer’s 2006 death at age 87.

Most exciting is to see Miss O’Day in action. There is incredible footage from her incomparable career starting as far back as the 1940’s through the recording of her last album, and the joy of hearing a woman do what she did best – sing. We see, and hear Anita singing more than 30 songs, including "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," "Let Me Off Uptown," "Honeysuckle Rose,” "Tea for Two," "Let's Fall in Love" and from her legendary performance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, “Sweet Georgia Brown.”

Aside from being a musical genius, Anita O Day’s captivating stage presence, sophisticated good looks, unique phrasing and rich smoky voice made her an inspirational performer and the only white female singer considered to be in the same jazz league as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan. That she failed to attain the fame of the aforementioned greats was in part because of her being her own worst enemy. This and more is discussed by a roster of record industry professionals, jazz critics and musicians in ANITA O'DAY THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER.

There will be two DVD release presentations of this much sought after title:

The basic retail release will have a list price of $29.98 and contains 2 discs. Disc 1 will have the movie with Director’s audio commentary and French, Spanish and Japanese subtitles. Disc 2 is a bonus Disc with 45 minutes of the uninterrupted musical performances from the film and 45 minutes of outtake interviews of Anita. There will also be a 32 page full color booklet including essays by jazz novelist Jim Gavin and jazz critic/author Will Friedwald; a selected chapter from Anita’s autobiography, High Times Hard Times; and16 pages reproduced from Anita’s personal scrapbooks.

The deluxe limited edition, listing for $69.99, is a 9 x 9” black burnished fabric covered hardbound book containing over 160 full color pages including Anita’s complete scrapbooks as well as all the material included in the basic retail release.

ANITA O’DAY THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER, an AOD Production, released on DVD by RED, will be available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and all leading DVD outlets.