Showing posts with label Blossom Dearie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blossom Dearie. Show all posts

Monday, November 1, 2010

Nonsense: Doop-Doo-De-Doop



Blossom Dearie: Doop-Doo-De-Doop (A Doodlin' Song)

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Jazz singer and pianist Blossom Dearie was a mainstay in the early days of Verve Records, thanks to her distinctively girlish voice and a wry sense of humor that shines through clearly here, on a delightfully lighthearted album recorded in 1959 at the peak of her rising popularity.

There's little more to say about this fun little ditty, but in general, it is a typical example of the great work Dearie produced throughout her life. Dearie's catalog is well worth exploring in other ways: through her work with Bob Dorough for Schoolhouse Rock, for example, or through her constant appearance on indie soundtracks in the last couple of decades before her death last year at the age of 84. Among those who track the rise and fall of the industry, she is notable for starting her own private label, Daffodil Records, in the mid-seventies after tepid support from her own label left her frustrated about how best to get her particular style of supper-club jazz to the masses. And her solo instrumental piano work is delish, too.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

New York: Manhattan

bdearie


Blossom Dearie: Manhattan

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There's just so much jazz either about or coming out of New York City that it seems like we Starbloggers need to represent! Here's a song from the Great American Songbook. Written in 1925 by the duo of Rogers & Hart, this version was recorded in 1958 by jazz vocalist Blossom Dearie. The lyrics stuff in so many New York place names that it could have represented the whole week's theme.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Fifty States: Rhode Island



Erin McKeown: Rhode Island Is Famous For You

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Blossom Dearie: Rhode Island Is Famous For You

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The basic premise of this playfully silly song, originally written for a patriotic 1948 Broadway musical review starring Carl Reiner, among others, is that while other states are famous for major industrial output, Rhode island is famous for you.

By implication, then, Rhode Island doesn't make much. But you rock, so thanks for suggesting it, folks.

There were, in fact, two different artists mentioned as sources for this one; since I had 'em, I decided to come in with both covers. Personally, I prefer post-folkie Erin McKeown's retro swingfolk to Ms. Dearie's sixties showtune singing, but only by a very slim margin.

Bonus track: Of several other much more recent songs which are actually about Rhode Island, I much prefer young Sonic Youth compatriot Jennifer O'Connor's hopeful ode to the great state as a setting for a fulfilled and partnered future. The lyrics are actually quite beautiful under all that awesome New England fuzzrock.

Jennifer O'Connor: Exeter, Rhode Island

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