Time for Two

In 1962, singer Anita O’Day and vibraphonist Cal Tjader were two of the most consistent adventurists working under the umbrella of Norman Granz’ Verve label. As likeminded cousins in a spread-out family, their meeting was inevitable, and the opportunity finally came to fruition with Time for Two. Above all, O’Day is a vocalist who loves to dance, so the spicy rhythms of Tjader’s Latin-oriented group were for her an ideal venue. The album explores an incredible diversity of material — everything from the loping blues of “I’m Not Supposed to Be Blue Blues” to the sugary “Mister Sandman,” coolly reimagined here — but the results really click when Anita is riding a tightly woven Cuban beat from Tjader’s band. On “Thanks for the Memory,” “Under a Blanket Of Blue,” “That’s Your Red Wagon” and “An Occasional Man” the Tjader band creates a elegant train-track over which O’Day’s voice can flurry and glide. Rarely has a tighter, prettier band been paired with a freer-moving vocalist. A match made in heaven.