JAZZ REVIEW : Anita O’Day and Company at the Vine St. Bar

All of the familiar elements--save one--were in place at the Vine St. Bar & Grill Wednesday night when singer Anita O’Day opened a four-night stand with a quartet. Her asleep-at-the-wheel swing style, her insouciant scatting, her melismatic approach to each note--each was in solid evidence during her brief opening set.

What was missing was the voice, that quality voice that once lifted O’Day an echelon or two above the other band singers, a voice that was likened to any number of bell-clear instruments.

Time, perhaps, has not been kind to O’Day. At almost 70, her voice has suffered the ravages of the life she chronicled in her 1981 autobiography, “High Life, Hard Times.” It was raspy and harsh, cracking at the high end and fading on the low; an ever-widening vibrato confused control with melisma, and her intonation was unsure and frequently off the mark.

Yet, there was redemption in her repertoire and her phrasing of the familiar lines of the old songs was comfortable and reassuring.

Working with a quartet fronted by saxophonist Gordon Brisker, O’Day opened and closed with Jobim’s “Wave,” at nearly 30 years old, the second-newest song offered during her opening set. With gentle samba rhythms supplied by drummer Frank Capp, the tune lolled as Brisker filled in the gaps with brightly dancing flute frills.

“You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” had O’Day and company in a swinging mode. The singer scatted neatly as four’s and two’s were traded with her players. That same formula was applied in a similarly swinging rendition of “ ‘S Wonderful,” which ended with a drum solo that segued pointlessly into a more slowly swinging “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

O’Day included only one ballad, “Street of Dreams,” in her set. Despite the exceptional musical efforts of pianist Pete Jolly and bassist Brian Bromberg, the tune served only to exaggerate her vocal shortcomings.

Before a trite medley of “You Are My Sunshine” and Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” O’Day offered what she called the “nostalgia” part of the show. “Let Me Off Uptown,” her hit from the early ‘40s with drummer Gene Krupa, was presented with a corny script that demeaned Brisker. “Boogie Blues,” from the same era, was a forgettable inclusion.