Monday, February 09, 2009

Archival Obituary: Blossom Dearie

Rahav Segev for The New York Times

Obituary reposted from the February 8, 2009 New York Times

And a link to Verve records, her label.
For starters, I recommend My Gentleman Friend and Blossom Dearie Sings Comden and Green.

Listen to an in memoriam replay of Blossom Dearie on Piano Jazz
from 2001.

10 comments:

james at 10engines said...

heard nothing of this till i saw your post. big fans of blossom... thx for this.

Lesli Larson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deepfry said...

sigh. 'tis sad sad news.

Lesli Larson said...

Friend Eliz forwarded the bad news item to me yesterday.

A propaganda minister moment for me was embedding E's ipod with what seemed like 500 Blossom Dearie tunes.

I always regret not seeing BD in New York during my visits. Same regret over not seeing Bobby Short perform in person.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lesli,

I actually cried when I heard the news. Not sure why, because she was old and frail and passed on peacefully, but it certainly does signal the end to an era. I deeply regret, as you do, missing her in New York. She was on my list and I just never got around to it. Sad.

But on a happier note, just wanted to let you know that David and I enjoy browsing your blog, and I appreciate the link to mine. You and your partner came up in conversation last night, and I hope we'll have the chance to share at a potluck or something this summer, after I'm finished with my dissertation.

Cheers,
JL

Lesli Larson said...

I love that you would cry over the death of Blossom Dearie. That's brilliant. Reason enough to get together for a supper club themed around Blossom Dearie foods.

I really thought I'd get to see BD in NYC before she went into the ether. I think we saw an underwater puppet show instead.

Check out the Piano Jazz session. I like her totally sassy, self confident outlook.

Elaine Stritch is all we have left! And Liza, of course. And Marcovicci, Barbara Cook, Mary Cleere Haran, etc.

Your blog has a definite fan following in our home though I wish Eugene made more food fodder for you to scrabble through.

Anonymous said...

OK, now that's just uncanny. I went to the underwater puppet show, too. I assume it was the same one -- how many underwater puppet shows are there? Symphonie Fantastique. Lovely, and I'm glad I went, but still. I wonder if we were mulling over our choices at the same time?

It would be great fun to do a Blossom Dearie Supper Club!

Lesli Larson said...

That was it. Symphonie Fantastique! We has comp tickets via Sara's sister (including a backstage tour of the puppeteers in their diving masks and water smocks). I think an audience member passed out (induced by the water ballet?) and they ended up turning on the lights and stopping the show. Perhaps you were in the audience that evening...

Anonymous said...

No, I don't remember anyone passing out. But it was certainly during the run!

Le Bouton said...

oooooohhh, i didn't hear about this. she was a perfect person.