High Times Hard Times by Anita O'Day, George Eells
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Book Reviews of High Times Hard Times
Book Review: Candid, excellent, jazz autobiographhy
Summary: 5 Stars
Seems like a truly honest, candid account of the jazz life of a famous jazz singer, warts and all. Very touching in its candor in which the singer's habits brought down her considerable talents and what could have seemed like a glamorous life on the road really was far more debased than what one might imagine. Besides the sordid side, a lot of opinions about the jazz abilities of a lot of famed musicians of the forties and fifties; generally, a very honest, open and sometimes painful account of the jazz life of a great artist. I had the pleasure of meeting the aritst in person at a performance a few years ago, and she revealed that she had never read the final product herself. Highly worthwhile.Book Review: Great Biography
Summary: 4 Stars
Great book, you will find how the life of this singer was.How does the musicians have to survive in hard times.Book Review: Ain't easy singin' jazz
Summary: 3 Stars
This is an interesting read for anyone who sings, plays, or enjoys jazz music. It's the story of a person who hit the pits in the jazz world and then rose above it. The late Anita O'Day tells it like it is. How easy it is to get a drug habit and how hard it is to kick it. How she was ripped off by shady agents and record producers, as well as band leaders. The lady had her own special way of presenting a tune, and she stuck to her guns despite the advent of rock and roll which made a lot of jazz performers give up performing jazz music and jump on the rock and roll band wagon, i.e. sax man King Curtis to keep the rent paid. She had some real rough times and tells of how she had to pawn nearly everything she had to get enough to eat or support her drug habit. Eventually she kicked her heroin habit(after fourteen years) and became an icon in the jazz world. O'Day tells of her different "gigs", traveling and doing one nighters with bands such as Krupa, Kenton, and other big bands of the thirties, forties, and fifties. A good insight into the ups and downs of a jazz performer.Book Review: vaguely disappointed
Summary: 3 Stars
Mainly, it was the enigmatic, controversial Stan The Man Kenton I wanted to know more about. Didn't happen. Lots of name-dropping; but rather cold, all told.
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