Blossom Dearie

Posted almost 5 years ago

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Blossom Dearie

I love Blossom Dearie. She is my favorite tiny voiced singer/songwriter/pianist. A lot of you might recognize her for her contributions to School House Rock. "Unpack Your Adjectives" is the best one she did in my book. She was born in 1928 in Durham, New York. There's so much history and information on her on the web. Here's some links:"Her own website":http://www.angelfire.com/ny/blossomdearie/"Great bio on the Norwegian American Hall of Fame website":http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/dearie.htm"Short bio of her on Verve site":http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist.aspx?ob=per&src=prd&aid=2983"Meticulously documented list of her albums with covers tracks and reviews":http://www2.odn.ne.jp/airstructures/review%20blossom%20dearie.html"Her Wikipedia entry":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blossom_DearieAt the age of 78 she still plays in supper clubs in New York and London. She's played at many since the 60's. I've read that her voice is still amazing. Her voice is a cute as her name. She has this kind of earnestness in her singing that makes my heart ache with the joy she exudes. A lot of her sound is very intimate with her and her piano. There are some albums with a backing jazz band and she has been recorded with full orchestra. My favorite album that I've heard is "That's Just The Way I Want To Be". It was released in 1970 and is really rare to have on vinyl. It's got a lot of my favorite tracks on the album and it's got a really groovy England thing going on. There are a ton of greatest hits out there if your interested. I highly recommend her. She has an interesting story and the music is great to boot. I'm leaving you with "I Like London in the Rain" which is the last track off the previously mentioned album.

Comments (11)

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fistula spume says And this one as well. It's "Try Your Wings" off of the album Give Him The Oh La-la. It was released in 1957 on Verve. ~wBm3W0iExBD.mp3~

Permalink posted 04/12/2007
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lalalauren says thats some great stuff. I'm glad you posted the second song because my instinct was to not listen to the whole of the first song. I always love the raw sound of oldies especially when they're dreamy. and she is pretty damn cute. thanks!!

Permalink posted 04/12/2007
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fistula spume says That first one is from her more swinging groovy times. I picked that one because of it's obscurity and it seems to get sampled a lot. Especially by Japanese artists. Her piano jazz work is really great. Try your Wings is one of those sitting alone kind of songs.

Permalink posted 04/12/2007
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goodmusiconly says Nice pick, sam, I'll have to check out more of her!

Permalink posted 04/12/2007
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fistula spume says Thanks Erin. Check out that meticulous link I posted above. It's pretty helpful. I love Blossom Dearie. She makes me feel happy.

Permalink posted 04/12/2007
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Mike the Knife says Suh-weet.

Permalink posted 04/12/2007
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Timothy Ritter says I'm glad other folks are down with this. It's hard to find people who dig her more tripped out stuff. Nice post.

Permalink posted 04/13/2007
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fistula spume says No Kidding. That mid career stuff is pretty great. Glad you enjoyed it.

Permalink posted 04/13/2007
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ookpik says When I first checked out Joanna Newsom, the friendly neighbourhood music clerk (they do exist) suggested that her voice kind of sounded like Blossom Dearie's, and I think that's part of the reason I immediately liked Joanna Newsom. Thanks for posting these.

Permalink posted 04/18/2007
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fistula spume says No problem. I love Blossom Dearie. I could see Joanna Newsom reference if Blossom was a lot creepier and mystical sounding. They both do have high voices though.

Permalink posted 04/19/2007
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Hermes says Nice post, I have to check those links about her later - first some breakfast ;). Never heart of her before and neither of Joanna Newsom.

Permalink posted 04/05/2008