What initially seems like just another of 1950s Songbook-themed albums that Norman Granz created for Ella Fitzgerald, turned out to be completely different kind of music. The only thing they have in common is focus on one composer, but where Fitzgerald got herself a royal treatment with cinematic strings and the glitzy cellophane, this album is pure and simple jazz of nightclub variety, where singer is backed only by small trio and often simply sing along to her own piano.
Blossom Dearie is such an unusual, unpretentious artist that her little girl voice comes as a shock - she is so darn eccentric, unique and original that I can't think of anybody else to compare her to. Perhaps Bobby Troup is the only singer who I remember doing wonders with what is basically very small, intimate voice but naturally they share only approach, not the sound. In theory, somebody cooing and whispering like Betty Boop at the age of 35 sounds terrible on the paper, but you need to hear Blossom Dearie just once to get caught up in her universe. I have always found her immensely appealing but this little flower is so modest and unassuming that it usually takes me a year or so before I remember re-visiting her music.
Recorded just at the right time when pop music was still inspired by Broadway shows, "Blossom Dearie Sings Comden and Green" is hypnotic and mellow like some piano music by Erik Satie. Its truly a comforting and dreamy sound one listens when alone in the evening and I even caught myself getting lost in the lyrics which are actually very sophisticated. Dearie was not a slouch when it came to songwriting herself but here she perfectly acts and inhabits lonely drifter persona created by somebody else. Just a masterpiece from the beginning to the end.
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