My Name Is Blossom, I Was Raised In A Lion's Den

I just became friends with a cool eighteen year old named Mary Rose who is in my French 101 class. She and I have been talking about music, and come to find out she studied jazz at a performing arts high school in Washington State. I figured since she studied jazz she would have heard of Blossom Dearie, but, alas, she hadn't. I chalk it up to her age. But then I got to thinking that there are probably a lot of other people who haven't heard of her out there too, and I admit, I didn't discover her until my early thirties. She has a voice that sounds like she's been sucking helium (in a good way), and she is just the essence of cool mid-century jazz. I love, love, love her. I mean, check out that photo. I have a lot of favorite songs of hers too, but I really love her song "Blossom's Blues," which is where I got this post's title. Way too cool. A few years ago when Steve and I were visiting New York City I found out she was still performing regularly at a club in the village, but was off the week we were there. And then, in writing this post, I found she died in February, so my chances of seeing her live are gone for good. Oh well, the woman was 85, I guess I can let her go. I wish I could have found a video on youtube, but I couldn't, so I'll just add another favorite for you to check out:



And if you don't know that one, here's some Blossom Dearie you're sure to recognize:



I really think I was supposed to be a jazz singer, but for some reason I wasn't blessed with either the talent or the chutzpah. Lucky for me there's the Blossom Dearies of the world out there to give me some vicarious pleasure.