N E W S


December 2007

Back Up and Running

Just wanted to let you all know that we are working again. Yippee!!! Six months has been the longest I've gone in about ten years without a gig and I'm DYING to sing again! We have a few things coming up, most of them are private though. There's a swing dance on December 17th that is open to the public, so please come on out. You will hear unrestrained, unbridled energy. I have a lot of suppressed swing inside of me! For me information, please visit http://www.hotjamswings.com. We will have another Fernbank Martinis & IMAX date when they are finished with Christmas break. I'll let you know that date as well. Seasons Greetings to you. I wish you good health and happiness for 2008.

September 2007

It's a BOY!

I'm proud to annouce that Kevin and I have had our first baby! Jonah Sanders made his grand, DRAMATIC entrance on July 23, 2007 weighing 7 lbs. 15 oz. He is PERFECT and healthy. We can't tell who he favors but so far he's a blondie like his momma! There has been no greater joy in life than this time. Thank you so much for your prayers and emails. We love you guys and will be ready to start up those swing dances again soon. Much love and a special thank you to our dedicated rhythm section (in addition to Kevin on piano), Craig Shaw our acoustic bassist and Che Marshall our drummer. You have been loving and patient through a difficult and different sort of journey. Another special thanks to ASEDA (Atlanta Swing Era Dance Association) for coming out to swing with the band during the pregnancy, which occasionally resulted in unexpected sprints to the restroom and lots of chair singing which I have never been a fan of. You guys are the greatest- you are why we are able to remain an AUTHENTIC swing band. You mean the world to us.

November 2006

Anita O'Day My Hero

So much happened over the holiday last week that I'm just now hearing the news that Anita passed. I am heartbroken over it. Anyone who knows my singing knows how much of my style has been dedicated to Anita O'Day. More so than Ella, maybe even more so than Billie. She has had a profound influence on my growth as a musician. I remember seeing her a few years ago at the Fez Under Time in New York. At that point, you could tell she was tired and it was difficult for her to get around but as soon as her band started playing you could see the spark in her eyes. She forgot the words, but just like always she would swing her heart out. She's always been a drummer's vocalist. Her fans were the most devoted I've seen-- singing along with her arrangements when needed. I am so thankful that I have that night. I have a photo that I'll post--wonderful memory.

It's really important as musicians that we go see some of these legends who might not be with us for long. I regret the fact that I missed Shirley Horn. I had my chance and I missed it. Anyway, here is Anita's Obituary.

Singer Anita O'Day, who possessed one of the most distinctive voices in jazz, died Thursday morning of cardiac arrest in a West Los Angeles convalescent hospital, according to her manager Robbie Cavalina. She had been battling a bout of pneumonia but was also suffering from Alzheimer's disease. O'Day was 87.

The Jezebel of Jazz, who achieved stardom singing for Gene Krupa's swing band in the early '40s, was born Anita Belle Colton in Chicago on Oct. 18, 1919. Abandoned by her father when she was a year old, and with her mother working in a meatpacking plant, the only child began singing in church at an early age during summer visits to her grandparents in Kansas City. However, O'Day wasn't blessed with a naturally angelic voice: As a result of a doctor accidentally cutting off her uvula during a tonsillectomy when she was 7, she had no vibrato and was unable to hold notes. Critic Leonard Feather later described her voice as having a "note-breaking, horn-like style and hip, husky sound."

O'Day soon left home at the age of 14 to enter a walkathon to raise money for herself during the Depression. Sent back home to the Windy City after a couple of years, she attended school during the day but at night would sing in taverns in the Uptown area. In 1939, the feisty vocalist received her big break, getting hired to sing at the Off-Beat Club in downtown Chicago; she was still relatively unknown when Krupa hired her for $40 a week two years later. That same year, "Let Me Off Uptown," with legendary trumpeter Roy Eldridge, propelled her into the spotlight. By 1944, when she joined Stan Kenton's band, Anita O'Day became a household name with hits like "Alreet," "Kick It" and "Bolero at the Savoy." The million-selling "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" proved her most popular recording with Kenton. O'Day embarked on a solo career in 1945, playing small nightclubs all around the country.

With highly acclaimed albums for Verve like Anita (1955), Pick Yourself Up (1956), Anita O'Day Sings the Winners (1958), Cool Heat (1959) and All the Sad Young Men (1961), O'Day became a legitimate jazz superstar, culminating in a memorable appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, famously captured by photographer Bert Stern in his documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day.

Unfortunately, by the time of her Newport triumph and at her artistic peak, O'Day had developed a serious heroin habit, which she battled until a near-fatal overdose in 1966. Documented in her 1981 autobiography High Times Hard Times, after "a troubled life that included back-room abortions, a nervous breakdown, two failed marriages, jail time for drug possession and more than a decade-long addiction to heroin," the resilient chanteuse kicked narcotics cold turkey.

O'Day continued to record and perform frequently and had just released Indestructible, her first studio album in 13 years, featuring Eddie Locke, Chip Jackson, Roswell Rudd, Lafayette Harris, Tommy Morimoto and Joe Wilder. A documentary, Anita O'Day—The Life of a Jazz Singer, will be released in 2007.

She leaves no immediate survivors. Memorial services are pending.

January 2005

Swingin' Down South

Hello friends! Most of you already know this, but for those of you who haven't received our email updates, we have moved to the great city of Atlanta. After a teary-eyed farewell to the staff and regulars at Langan's, we packed up the U-Haul (in 13 degree weather) and followed the geese south. Our contact information remains the same, so please stay in touch or drop us a line with a request to be added to the email list. We will send updates soon about how to purchase our new cd featuring jazz luminaries Brad Leali and Marcus Printup. I think you'll enjoy hearing favorites like "Try a Little Tenderness" and "Little Girl Blue" along with some new compositions written by Kevin Sanders, my better half. Happy New Year and GOD bless! Camilla