Jazz Articles about Blossom Dearie

Diggin' Me Diggin' You - Celebrating Blossom Dearie's Centennial, Ella Fitzgerald, Ma Rainey & More

by Mary Foster Conklin
May 6, 2024

This broadcast concludes Jazz Appreciation Month with new releases from Jacqui Naylor, Amina Figarova, Irina Zubareva and Gabrielle Stravelli, with birthday shoutouts to Ella Fitzgerald, Ma Rainey, Blossom Dearie (100!), Kendra Shank and Lara Downes, among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music so they can continue to distract, comfort, provoke and inspire. Playlist Lynne Arriale Trio “Soul" from Being Human (Challenge) 00:00 Ella Fitzgerald & ...

A Musical Tribute To New York

by H William Stine
October 2, 2021

First show of my 12th season. It was great to be back. But, as reluctant as I am to admit it, the day was certainly not about me. It was September 11th. So for New York, and for anyone and everyone with scars on their heart for what happened on that day twenty years ago, I played songs celebrating the indomitable spirit, the complexity, and the inspiration that is New York City; and paid tribute to one of its icons, ...

Blossom Dearie: Blossom Time at Ronnie Scott's

by Samuel Chell
February 10, 2007

Several years ago Blossom Dearie said that of all her recordings, this on-location session from 1966 was her personal favorite. Although artists are notoriously unreliable critics of their own work, it's hard to quarrel with the singer/pianist's preference given the evidence on this reissue. Anyone who has yet to discover the inimitable, Lolita-like voice of this worldly-wise, genuinely hip, surprisingly versatile performer can be assured of making her acquaintance under optimal musical circumstances.

Even devoted fans seem unaware ...

Blossom Dearie: From The Meticulous To The Sublime

by Michael P. Gladstone
December 29, 2005

As a long-time admirer of singer/songwriter Blossom Dearie, it is good to see that her 1975 album From The Meticulous To The Sublime, a mid-career snapshot of her work, has finally been made available on CD.

Pursuing her own muse, Blossom Dearie formed the Blue Stars of France in the early 1950s, which culminated in a successful recording of “Lullaby of Birdland" in 1954. She appeared as the “girl" vocalist on the original King Pleasure recording of “I'm ...

Blossom Dearie: My Gentleman Friend

by David Rickert
December 25, 2003

Let’s be clear about one thing from the start. This is more of a pop album than a jazz album, and anyone who buys My Gentleman Friend for the presence of any of the other musicians involved – especially Kenny Burrell – will probably be disappointed. Those who have encountered Blossom Dearie on any of her other Verve releases will be wiser, for she has always been more of an elegant cabaret singer whose delicate voice and modest piano playing ...

Blossom Dearie: Blossom Dearie Sings Comden and Green

by David Adler
March 1, 2002

This was the fourth of six titles that Blossom Dearie would record for Verve in the mid to late 1950s. As James Gavin explains in his liner essay for the 2001 reissue, Norman Granz wanted to further the success of the “songbook" concept he had developed with Ella Fitzgerald, so he sold Dearie on a tribute to the hit Broadway lyricists Adolph Green and Betty Comden. Dearie, accompanying herself on piano, is joined by the dream team of Kenny Burrell, ...

Blossom Dearie: Blossom Dearie Sings Comden and Green

by David Adler
February 1, 2002

This was the fourth of six titles that Blossom Dearie would record for Verve in the mid to late 1950s. As James Gavin explains in his liner essay for the 2001 reissue, Norman Granz wanted to further the success of the “songbook" concept he had developed with Ella Fitzgerald, so he sold Dearie on a tribute to the hit Broadway lyricists Adolph Green and Betty Comden. Dearie, accompanying herself on piano, is joined by the dream team of Kenny Burrell, ...