Anita O’Day—”Fine & Dandy” (1955)

Last Thursday, I already mentioned another jazz standard composed by Kay Swift and her husband Paul James: "Fine And Dandy."

The German-born lyricist Paul James, whose real name was James Paul Warburg (1896-1969), was actually a banker by profession. He was a descendant from a centuries old line of bankers that originated from one of the wealthiest Sephardic German dynasties, going all the way back to its Spanish and Italian ancestors. All were bankers, and all wrote poetry, which James did to the melodies of his wife's music. When James came to the U.S. with his parents, his father became the founder of the Federal Reserve System. In 1930, James wrote the "Fine And Dandy" lyrics.

25 Years later, Chicago-born Anita O'Day (Anita Belle Colton, 1919-2006) recorded the song for her first album on Norman Granz' new Verve record label. The arrangement was made by fellow Chicagoan "Buddy" Bregman. Anita is accompanied by pianist Paul Smith, guitarist Barney Kessel, harpist Corky Hale, bassist Joe Mondragon, and drummer Alvin Stoller. The recording engineer during this session in Hollywood on December 6, 1955, was Puerto Rican Luis Pastor Valentin.