Tag Archives: Blossom Dearie

Old Fruit

Old Fruit 9th May 2025

Ivor Cutler – Shoplifters

One of the true British eccentrics of the twentieth century, Ivor Cutler could make records that seemed primitive and childlike in their execution but somehow snuck some depth in through the back door of your mind and could have you think about things in a whole new way. He would mostly accompany himself on harmonium, as seen in this clip, and was beloved by the late night outposts of BBC radio, in fact his radio appearances from the late fifties right through to regular appearances on the John Peel Radio One show probably leant him a relevance that his actual record sales may never have afforded him. I give his work some time whenever I come across it…

The Easybeats – Friday On My Mind

If you think talk about pop music being better in the sixties is all just a bit overblown then try and argue against the merits of a track like this. From 1966, these were an Australian beat group who scored big in the charts with one of the most piledriving, adrenalin fuelled, pop rockers imaginable and underneath it all they wrote a great song, with all due consideration given to structure, melody and dynamic punch. Wow! Fab! Groovy! Yeah, I love sixties pop…

Bob Wills – Take Me Back To Tulsa

It’s all about the sound, all about the western swing and the hard to resist rhythm. This is what country was defined by in the forties and fifties when the genre still had its rough and ready roots fully visible. The vocalist here is Luke Wills while bandleader Bob is easily identifiable as he’s the one with the unexpectedly high pitched voice who frequently calls out between the verses. Some ears find Bob Wills a bit much on his recordings because he could not stop calling out, mostly without any need, the music was uplifting and infectious enough in itself, he did not need to whip it up and solicit the attention quite as much as this, but then you could argue that the band would not have been quite so well drilled without his exacting standards…

Albert Lee – Tear It Up

Not that anyone should need convincing about the guitar playing and authenticity of Albert Lee but here is some undeniable evidence of his genius anyway. It was said by a favourite radio DJ of mine once that Rock n Roll is basically just Country music played faster and while that generalisation fails to account for the evolutions in Rock music that would explode in the sixties and seventies, there is an essentially correct element to the roots of the statement. And with a performance like this, it is roots that Albert Lee is working with, ‘Tear It Up’ is a ripper of a performance that pulls in original seeds of country, bluegrass and rockabilly and boils it all up into a barnstorm of raw and ready musical delight… tear it up!

Blossom Dearie – 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)

Blossom, seen here performing on the David Frost show in 1971, could so easily be written about as though she were a contemporary and equal in talent to someone like Nina Simone. She was a fine pianist who rarely showed off her true prowess and a warm, sincere interpreter of popular songs of the day who could pull in a jazzier element without losing touch with the songs soul. She was a demanding performer too who would not settle for anything less than the exact playing conditions she required, so photographers, chatters and smokers would be challenged without room for compromise. But Blossom was a very different beast to Nina, with her childlike voice, grandmotherly warmth and fondness for the twee (as heard here). But a phenomenal talent more than capable of a heart-wrenching performance and an ability to capture both innocence and refinement in the same breath…

Paul Simon – American Tune

So let’s finish this week with a classic selection from the writer of the previous tune. Paul Simon’s ‘American Tune’, heard here in a fifty year old TV performance, sounds like a prayer for America as much as its a weary lament. The sad thing is he could have written it last year as there are lines in there that still retain that level of contemporary relevance. I guess that does at least go to show what a genius songwriter Simon has always been, that a tune like this, which was probably thinking about Watergate and Vietnam, was written with such universal, ageless language that it can still work today. His guitar playing is pretty tasty too, something that maybe gets overlooked a little too much.

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Monthly Playlists

December 2023 Playlist

I first came across Blossom Dearie around fifteen years ago thanks to my dealings in the world of second hand vinyl. I had purchased a collection that heavily featured top drawer female vocalists, primarily from the sixties and seventies era. It is possible that I had noticed the name Blossom Dearie before that time, just as it is equally probable that I dismissed her as someone of no particular interest to me, especially if a routine glance at her place within the twentieth century canon identified a middle-of-the-road jazzer in the easy listening realm. My relationship with all forms of jazz has evolved over the past fifteen years to the extent that today I would not turn away without investigation any style the music offers as I am a far more enlightened jazz fan, fully aware of the music’s potential to elevate, surprise and delight. But I digress, back then a name like Blossom Dearie would have sparked my interest no more than a name like Roger Whittaker.

But there was an album by Blossom in that collection from 1970 on the Fontana label called ‘That’s Just The Way I Want To Be’ that I learned, as I priced the collection ready for sale, was worth in the £100+ region. This obviously did catch my attention because, knowing what I do about the reason certain albums from this golden era in recorded music rise to three figures in value, the chances are the music in those grooves was going to be worth a listen. That absolutely proved to be the case, it was immediately clear from the opening title track (which also opens this months playlist) that here was music displaying a folksy, psych-tinged majesty several planes removed from any predictable trad-jazz leanings I may have expected. Yes there are tracks that lean more towards the balladeer grain Dearie was known for, but the whole album flowed with a diversity and inventiveness, not to mention a singular style, all its own. It even ended with a funky little number called ‘I Like London In The Rain’ I later found is hotly sought after as a break beat sample source. As is always the case with rare records whose status is built around the genuine quality of the music, my original copy sold within hours of my listing it online although it did get added to my list of records I needed in my own collection at some future point.

That day has finally arrived this past month when I acquired the newly released Blossom Dearie box set ‘Discover Who I Am – The Fontana Years 1966-1970’ which includes as part of its six discs that same, complete 1970 album. But I have to say, my appreciation of Blossom has, thanks to this incredible set, now hit full bloom and landed as an out-and-out obsession. I love it when this happens, as I listened all the way through the hours of music feeling like it is not my usual kind of thing but becoming acutely aware that something in those recordings was absolutely hitting the spot. Blossom was going through an evolution herself during this period, launching upwards from a polished interpreter of song and a stunning pianist into an expressive artist nurturing a subtle songwriting talent of her own. That voice of hers was an often light, pure and childlike instrument in which she began to untap a unique understated power within her own compositions. However, her gifts for interpretation shine bright here too. For example her version of ‘Trains And Boats And Planes’ is, for my money, the definitive recording. Where the familiar Dionne Warwick hit version has an almost jaunty bounce to the production, Blossom devastatingly unlocks the pain in the song, the longing and the heartache at the departure of a loved one. You can feel the hurt, but gorgeously so, it is nothing short of a master class of performance, nuance and class; qualities that Blossom Dearie had in abundance. I do not believe these will be the last words I write about her.

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