Blossom Dearie: The Fontana Years, 1966-1970

Born in Upstate New York in 1924, Blossom Dearie wasn't really American. The jazz singer, composer, arranger and pianist was more at home in Paris in the 1950s and London in the 1960s. Classically trained as a child, she switched to jazz in high school. After graduation in the early 1940s, Dearie moved to Manhattan and sang in Woody Herman's Blue Flames and with Alvino Rey's Blue Reys.

She also recorded with bop vocalist Dave Lambert and pianist Al Haig in the late 1940s before recording Moody's Mood for Love, a hit with King Pleasure in 1952. Later that year, at 28, she moved to Paris where she played piano, arranged and sang with the Blue Stars vocal octet and met and married Belgian flutist and saxophonist Bobby Jaspar.

Back in the U.S. in the late 1950s, Dearie recorded a series of albums for Norman Granz's Verve label that were well regarded but never fully clicked for me, emotionally. Some songs worked on albums, many didn't, and Dearie's high pitch seemed out of sync with the more popular, husky-voiced jazz vocalists of the day.

As work dried up in the States in the early 1960s, she performed at Annie Ross's Annie's Room club in London and in Paris at the Quatre Vin in 1965. A year later, Dearie relocated to London and fit the swinging scene there like a glove. As pop art and the youth culture shaped fashion, film and music, Dearie's childlike voice was a natural with audiences and artists.

In London, she recorded four albums for the Fontana label and set up Blossom Dearie Music, her own music publishing company. She was friends with John Lennon, Georgie Fame and many other emerging artists who saw her special qualities. She also gigged at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club and appeared regularly on BBC TV. Her Fontana albums were Blossom Time at Ronnie Scott’s, Sweet Blossom Dearie, Soon It’s Gonna Rain and That’s Just the Way I Want to Be and featured a mix or originals and new standards.

Now, Universal Music Recordings has pulled together her Fontana releases for a new box set: Blossom Dearie: Discover Who I Am, the Fontana Years, 1966-1970. The six CDs includes 27 previously unreleased tracks and a booklet with a terrific biographical essay by Jamie Smith along with photos I've never seen before. All of the tracks were remastered at Abbey Road from the original analog sources.

The box is a delicious retrospective that captures Dearie in full flower and head-over-heals in love with London and inspired by the attention she was receiving. The first two albums were recorded live in 1966 at Ronnie Scott's: Blossom Time at Ronnie Scott's featured Dearie backed by Jeff Clyne on bass and Johnnie Butts on drums. On Sweet Blossom Dearie, she was backed by Freddy Logan on bass and Alan Ganley on drums.

Soon It's Gonna Rain was a studio date recorded in 1967 and featured Dearie backed by Ronnie Verrell (d), Brian Daly (g), Kenny Salmon (org), Reg Leopold (violin), David Snell (harp), Jim Lawless Alan Hakin (perc.), Arthur Watts and Pete McGurk (b) and Derek Grossmith (fl). Keith Bird plays the alto saxophone solo on Dindi, and accompaniment directed were by Reg Guest and Dick Leahy.

That's Just the Way I Want to Be came out in 1970. Dearie was backed by Harold McNair (fl,ts), Daryl Runswick and Jeff Clyne (b), Spike Wells (d), Ian Carr (flhrn), Ray Warleigh (fl), Kenny Wheeler (tp), the Ladybirds (voc). The Hooray String Section Orchestra was arranged and conducted by Brian Gascoigne, and the session was produced by Pete King.

The fifth and sixth CDs are comprised of demos and tracks from London recording sessions that never were realized as an album.

For me, this box is Dearie at her very best. Listening from start to finish several times, one can hear her fully liberated as an artist and a free spirit in an environment where she not only was adored but also was part of the scene evolving across music forms. In this regard, the set is like a large bouquet of fragrant wet flowers from Covent Garden wrapped in lavender paper.

JazzWax clips: Here's When in Rome. Dig Dearie's chords...



Here's Dearie's Big City's for Me. Dig her chord voicings...



Here's Dearie's Dusty Springfield...



Here's Hey John, written by Dearie for John Lennon...



And here's Wave...



Bonus: If you're unfamiliar with Blossom Dearie, here she is in Paris on TV in 1965 with Jacques Hess on bass and Franco Manzecchi on drums, and playing a blues with Jack Dieval. Again dig her chord voicings...



And here's Dearie singing with Les Blue Stars on Lullaby of Birdland in 1954. Dearie is pictured above in the 3 O'clock position on the cover...