Once upon a time, there were jazz singers and there were cabaret singers, and the twain simply did not meet. But, over the years, cabaret singers began to adopt jazz phrasing and mannerisms, and jazz singers began to pay closer attention to the lyric and the melody. One of the best examples of this fusion of the two art forms, and someone who has performed this way from the very start of her career, is Blossom Dearie.
Currently playing weekends at Danny's Skylight Room in an open-ended run that began last May, Ms. Dearie (and, yes, that is her real name), will be receiving, on Mon., March 4, the Back Stage Bistro's highest honor: the Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award.
When the singer-pianist returned to Danny's last spring, Rex Reed of the New York Observer stated: "So much has been said about her soft, dandelion-dainty vocal style that some novices may not know how rhythmically she swings on piano." And, in a review of her performance at last June's JVC Jazz Festival concert, Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that her "exquisitely shaded pianism deepens songs with rich blues and jazz embellishments. At the same time, Ms. Dearie maintains a traditional sense of pop decorum, respecting her material and conveying lyrics with minutely calibrated shadings of humor and pathos." During my recent interview with Ms. Dearie, we spoke about the difference between performing in a cabaret and in a jazz venue. I asked her what it is about cabaret that she finds so appealing.
"In cabaret, the emphasis is on the words, more than the music. In the jazz world, it's the music that's of prime importance," she explains. The performer discovered this for herself when she first arrived in the city in the '50s from her hometown in upstate New York.
"If you heard Sarah Vaughan sing 'Embraceable You' at Birdland, then rushed over to hear Mabel Mercer at the Byline Room, it was like listening to one singer from Mars and another from Pluto," notes Ms. Dearie in her press kit bio. "The appreciation of the rhythm, above all, was definitely West Side. An utter disregard for rhythm and concentration on the lyrical content was definitely East Side…. I tried putting them together, with what I learned from Errol Garner and Gracie Allen. When I was working upstairs at Julius Monk's in the late '50s, the juxtaposition of working there, and recording in the afternoons with great swinging jazz musicians like Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, and Joe Jones, was a perfect example of this. Here am I still sitting on that boundary line, loving every minute of it."
Of course, Gracie Allen didn't sing, but it was her way of being funny, an effortlessly deadpan delivery, which was a big influence on Ms. Dearie. It comes off best when she's singing the lyrics of, say, Dave Frishberg. It came across even in her conversation with me. We were talking about cabaret being such a small community.
"It is," says the performer, "and especially because it's only the English language. You see, jazz can be listened to in China."
At which point I asked Ms. Dearie where her record orders come from. (She has a website and an email address from which one can order her albums.)
"From here and there, but none from China."
"None from China?"
"From Japan, yes, but not from China."
"Japan? You really have people ordering from Japan?"
"Oh, gosh, yes. They love it. And they're such wonderful audiences. They are so respectful, and polite. They're a pleasure to perform for. And they're very soft-spoken people. They don't shout."
"Obviously, you've performed there."
"Yes, I have. And Verve is the label that has my old, wonderful albums. Now they're CDs. Norman Granz produced them. And most of them are out in Japan—for the past 20 years."
"That's amazing."
"But not in China. But maybe if they were, we wouldn't even know about it, right? Or Russia. I've heard that some of these things are out in Russia, but you just never hear about it, or you don't get any money from it. But the Japanese are more on the ball with paying royalties."
Six of Ms. Dearie's now-classic albums have been reissued on CD and are available through The Verve Music Group, and 19 albums have been produced by her own record label, Daffodil Records, which she started in London back in the '70s.
"I just made a master," Ms. Dearie tells me, "and I said, 'Well, I have so many fans and friends. Why don't I just use my mailing list and see if they want to buy this album. And it started, and worked very well. So I went on to Volumes II, III, and IV, and on and on. I'm still working at it, though I'm a little lazy now."
The artist's latest CD is "Blossom's Planet," and just released is a single, "It's All Right to Be Afraid," written by Arthur Hamilton, Mike Palter, and Lynn Jackson.
How does Ms. Dearie choose the songs that she's going to sing?
"First comes the music. If the music pleases me, then I go on to the lyric. But if I don't like the music, I probably will not do the song."
I asked her what it is about the music that might be attractive to her.
"Well, it's either good or bad. It could be mediocre. The standards I have are very high because I've been surrounded by good musicians and good material."
And the lyric—what is it about the words of a song that might speak out to her?
"I think I'd rely on my taste again, from the good lyrics I've been used to. I grew up in an era with very high musical standards, so I have all of that as a background. When I learn anything, I always compare it to what I know."
Indeed, it was an era of great music when Blossom Dearie began her professional career. Appearances at Julius Monk's in the late '50s were followed by regular appearances at the famed Mars Club in Paris, and then ongoing engagements in London at Ronnie Scott's, one of the foremost jazz clubs in Europe. In between, and shuttling back and forth, she played various jazz clubs in New York, including the Village Vanguard, along with frequent guest appearances on television.
Ms. Dearie has composed many songs. "The first song that was worth anything was 'Sweet Georgie Fame.' He was a pop singer in London, but also a jazz musician, and that's why I liked him so well. It was around the time of all the English groups. I thought he was the most talented of them all.
"I was visiting a girlfriend and her children…and one of Georgie's records was on the BBC radio station. I said, 'Oh, I like him,' and the children were just ecstatic, singing along with him. And I said, 'Why don't we write a song?' So, I sat down at the piano and I thought of a melody. My girlfriend's sister had more talent at writing lyrics. She wrote the rest of it."
Ms. Dearie then had the idea to continue to write songs about people whom she admired. She wrote a song about Dusty Springfield that was used in a video about Springfield.
I asked Ms. Dearie how she goes about composing.
"I just sit down at the piano and say, 'I want to write a melody today.' And I just sort of stick to it, and I work at it. I play the piano and write a couple of ideas down. Five ideas, for example. And the next day, I write five more ideas. Then I play the 10 ideas I have and I eliminate the ones that are really no good. It's easier to hear them a few days later. The first day, they sound good. But when you hear them a couple of times a few days later, they may not sound as good."
Ms. Dearie says that she's also composed music when a lyric has already been written, such as for "Bye-Bye Country Boy" (on the "Blossom's Planet" CD), which her friend, Jack Segal, sent to her.
Does she have a new CD in the works?
"Yes, I'm planning on it. That's what I meant when I said I'm lazy. These songs are sitting on my piano, and I just have to get going."
How many of them are her own songs?
"Oh, about two so far. But I might get more in there. I'll have to get Jack, and we'll have to get going."
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You can hear Blossom Dearie—with musicians Ray Kilday on bass and Dave Silliman on drums—at Danny's Skylight Room, 346 West 46th St., Fridays and Saturdays at 7 pm, and Sundays at 6:15 pm. Or visit her website at www.BlossomsPlanet.com. You can also see her being feted at the Bistro Awards gala on Mon., March 4 at The Supper Club. (For details, click on the BISTRO AWARDS logo in the top left corner of the screen.)