Somehow it is appropriate that she would leave this world the night before the Grammy's. I don't think she ever won one, which says more about the Grammy's than it does about Blossom. Anyway, she would never be bothered with such folderol. She had songs to sing.
She wasn't Gay gay…but she was a delicious throwback to the time when gay meant gay…light, witty, charming. A soubrette…a chanteuse…even into her 80s…But a Gayer icon there never was. And you've just got to love a woman who hated Andrew Lloyd Webber.
So it is with a sad heart that we report and mourn the passing of Margeurite Blossom Dearie…the inimitable, the one, the only Blossom Dearie.
There was no one like her. Singing her jazz in her kittenish, sly voice, she ruled the roost at Danny's Skylight Lounge (now also gone.) She could go funny, hip, romantic, smart and sexy with the flick of a wrist on her keyboard. [click on any one of those links to get a taste of the lady's wares.] Stephen Holden, in the New York Times, called her rendition of Antonio Carlos Jobim's Wave "definitive." [You can buy it at Amazon if you click that.]
If you came to New York and didn't see Blossom Dearie…you didn't really come to New York.
Yeah, I was bummed to hear about this.
I’d only add the BRILLIANT “When In Rome” from her live set at Ronnie Scott’s from the 1960s. When we heard the news this morning we played it and danced along and sang to those amazingly funny wordy words.
She is sadly missed but there’s so much of her work to enjoy. The piece in the Times didn’t really mention ALL of the CDs that she released on her own label Daffodil Records (sadly gone about 2 years ago from their web presence). I will cherish the CDs that I was able to get from there while it lasted. For all I know she mailed them out herself. Standout for folks who can score an old copy on Amazon is Blossomtime in Winchester. She was in fine form.