Blossom Dearie is one of my all time favourite musicians. I feel like she shares a sort of similar musical touch with Ella Fitzgerald, or even Chet Baker on how she sings her songs. But yet, she finds a way pouring out her own melodic jazz drive into each song. And her vocal tone sounds so beautiful, it’s soft, delicate, and yet fits with every melody, kinda like Chet Baker. And the best part was, I’ve never even heard of Blossom Dearie before. I SWEAR! Her first self titled record, “Blossom Dearie,” released in 1957 on the Verve jazz record label blew my mind after I accidentally stumbled upon it. I came across this record on my instagram feed. I immediately noticed the cover of her debut record, Dearie reading while playing the piano in a light blue background. Not only did it grab my attention, but I felt as if my instincts were pulling me towards checking out the record, and telling me, “Marco, you need to check this out, not later, not in a couple of minutes, NOW!” First of all, this record is underrated, and yet Dearie deserves more recognition in the jazz world. HANDS DOWN! And what amazed me was, she had already performed a double bill with Little Jimmy Scott at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal back in 1993, for a series of 10 consecutive evenings at the mythical concert venue the Spectrum de Montreal. But, if you’re just getting yourself started into the jazz world, and you don’t want to feel overwhelmed, or not sure which direction to take. I highly recommend this record, because let’s face it, the jazz world can get pretty big with all of its different styles. And this is a beautiful introduction into the jazz scene. And, it’s an easy flow record, where you’ve got no awkward breaks, and misleading melodies. It’s just beautiful.

The record starts off with this great kicker called, “ ‘Deed I Do,” where it features this great easy going melody, and you can’t forget about that mellow guitar solo. I don’t know why, but it kind of reminds me of the collaborations between Les Paul, and Mary Ford. And as soon as I heard this track for the first time, It reminded me of my college days, where I would be finishing up my homework at around 10-11 o’clock at night, and have the radio on low, listening to whatever was on. Preferably, I would always find myself gravitating towards jazz. I find it great, interesting, and relaxing too. And around that time, the disc jockey would play great music, I mean, you’ve got to hear great musicians such as Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, and maybe some……Blossom Dearie…who knows! But, what’s interesting was how these two songs, “It Might as Well be Spring,” and “Tout Doucement,” are sung in French. This caught me by surprise, because I wasn’t expecting Dearie to sing in the language of Moliere. No. And I’ve got to admit to you something, her soft, gentle tone adds some sort of romantic touch that perfectly accompanies the music. The best part is this amazing bonus track, “Blossom’s blues,” where Dearie is singing the blues, but remains within her jazz realm. It’s hard to get my head wrapped around this because it has a great jazz melody. I mean you’ve got your great easy drum beat, the melodic tones from Dearie’s piano playing, a mellow guitar solo. But then, here comes Dearie singing the blues. Just amazing!