Pick Yourself Up With Anita O'Day

Anita O’Day’s second full-length for Verve is a display of the singer’s versatility and charisma. Pick Yourself Up highlights the partnership between O’Day and Verve’s in-house arranger Buddy Bregman. Bregman’s ingenious interpretations of “Stars Fell on Alabama,” “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “I Used to Be Color Blind” set the stage for O’Day to reclaim these well-loved standards. Even when she brings her singing down to a quiet hum, there is such inherent swing in her voice that each and every line seems to dance. She delights in every note, and makes the most of every measure. Nine bonus tracks elucidate this period of O’Day’s career with alternate takes and rare singles. Her take on Hoagy Carmichael’s “Ivy” is not to be missed, while “The Rock ‘n Roll Waltz” shows her affinity for tuckered troubadours like Hank Williams. Pick Yourself Up should be considered alongside Ella Fitzgerald’s album-length examinations of Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart, which Buddy Bregman would oversee after finishing work on Anita’s album in early 1956.