BLOSSOM IN AUTUMN

This is a little tribute to the singer and pianist BLOSSOM DEARIE who I met and worked with at the beginning of my professional career.

 Before I get to the details of my own musical encounter with her, a few facts for those unfamiliar with this remarkable musician.

 She was born in 1924 and Christened Blossom Margrete Dearie. Yes, folks! You might have imagined it a typical stage name for someone who spent many years working in nightclubs but it was her real name. The Margrete gives a clue that her mother was Norwegian.Her father was of Scottish/Irish descent. She was a New Yorker through and through, born and died there (in 2009 at the age of 84) and lived her life based there. 

In the 1950s, her talent was spotted by Norman Granz and she signed a contract with his Verve label for no less than six albums.

From 1956-63, she was married to Belgian flute and saxophone player BOBBY JASPAR. She met him in Europe and began frequent trips across the Atlantic. Annual visits to Ronnie Scott’s started in 1966. She subsequently started her own record label (“Daffodil records”) in the States and put out more of her own recordings.

But this is all encyclopaedia information.

The whole point about Blossom is her unique voice and style – once heard, never forgotten and completely distinctive. Two years after her death, the pop star KYLIE MINOGUE presented a full hour’s programme on Radio 2 celebrating Blossom’s talents.

So what was it about her? Well, for a start listen to the tracks I’ve put up on the Music page this week. And for a verbal description, the best I’ve found is the perceptive obituary of her which appeared in the New York Times.

The writer there sums her up perfectly as “the jazz pixie with the little-girl voice and the page-boy haircut”. She had “a caviar taste in songs and musicians” and threw a “fey camouflage over her needling wit.”

I can certainly attest that she was a warm-hearted but private person (in the way that suggests having endured quite a few knocks in life) and she did not mince her words when she felt strongly about something. Including (good on yer, Blossom!) a marked distaste bordering on contempt for the songs composed by Andrew Lloyd-Webber for his musicals.

She was bisexual and composed romantic lyrics about, among others, Georgie Fame and Dusty Springfield…………………

Blossom was a close friend and associate of DAVE FRISHBERG who wrote scathingly witty songs about the posturing of pseuds on the New York arty scene. He created “I’m hip!” which she loved to sing, as well as the famous “Peel me a grape” and “Long daddy green” which refers to the length and colour of the dollar bill and is a satire on the destructive effect of money. You can hear Blossom’s version of Long daddy green on the Music page, complete with added cash-register sounds……………...

Blossom was not just a very special and unusual singer – she was a skilful and knowledgeable jazz pianist. She understood instinctively how to accompany herself in a minimalist fashion.  In her opinion, many accompanists played entirely too much piano for the vocalist.

I think her playing was very underrated. It is worth noting that, when BILL EVANS was asked about his use of fourths in chord-voicings, he said he had heard Blossom Dearie play that way and it had really knocked him out.

As I said, her first residency at Ronnie’s was in 1966 and the sidemen she was assigned were JEFF CLYNE on bass and JOHHNY BUTTS on drums. Johnny Butts was tragically killed later that year in a motor bike crash. Blossom clearly loved Jeff Clyne’s playing as she always used him after that with various drummers.

In 1969 I took over the drum slot for her stint at the club and this led, the following year, to my participation in her album for Fontana/Philips called “That’s just the way I want to be” which the tracks on the Music page are from and which featured, not the trio, but a larger ensemble including HAROLD MCNAIR, RAY WARLEIGH, KENNY WHEELER  and a string section.

1970 also saw the trio with Jeff Clyne and me embark on a hairy tour of Northern Ireland. Hairy because the “troubles” had recently erupted into full-scale violence and we were billeted in the Europa Hotel which later become known as the most bombed building in Belfast. We survived unscathed but every time we went out or in, we were each subjected to a thorough search.

I also shudder when I recall that we used to like going over the road to the picturesque old pub opposite (the Crown) to have Guinness and Irish stew for lunch in one of its snugs. I’m not sure whether this was ever bombed but it strikes me as a prime target.

We played the Guiness Spot several nights and also did gigs around the province. Blossom was great company.

I only saw her one more a couple of years later when I did a television show with her in Oslo, on which she was featured singing with KARIN KROG. I was reminded of her Norwegian roots when she was interviewed and talked fondly of her cousin Dag Tunal “who played trombone in the symphony in Trondheim”.

I am so grateful that I had the chance to play with, and get to know a little, this very special singer, pianist and character.