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photo by Mel Levine; pinelife, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Anita O’Day, 1957

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Jazz On a Summer’s Day

It’s 1958
and the epitome of 50s style
Anita O’Day steps onto
the stage, white gloves
to her elbows, black hat
crowned with white feathers,
slim black dress and finger clicks
the band into sound and dynamic
jazz minors and majors.
The sun shines, a hot Newport
and it’s jazz on a summer’s day,
floating through the ears
of the people watching,
and swaying, nodding
chewing gum to the syncopation
of Jazz on a summer’s day.
And she turns to the band,
knowing she’s in charge,
arms akimbo, spread
to gather the music,
turns and spreads it out
to the people watching,
swaying, nodding, gum chewing
to the syncopation, watching
Anita O’Day and listening
to jazz on a summer’s day.

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John Murphy is a retired lecturer living in the UK. He has taught English and American literature and creative writing and is the editor of The Lake, an online poetry journal.

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Watch the film of Anita O’Day’s July 6, 1958 Newport Jazz Festival performance of “Sweeet Georgia Brown” and “Tea for Two” 

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