MUSIC CLIP - OSCAR PETERSON, “MOONGLOW”

Welcome to Afterglow, [a show of vocal jazz and popular song from the Great American Songbook], I’m your host, Mark Chilla.

This week on the show, we’re continuing our 100th birthday celebration of singer and songwriter Blossom Dearie. Last time on the show, we showcased Dearie’s classic period in the late 1950s, and her six remarkable albums for Verve Records. And this week, I will chronicle the next chapter of her career in the 1960s and 1970s. During this time, Dearie moved to London, discovered her own voice as a songwriter, and eventually forged her own path as a music producer, taking full creative control over her work. I’ll feature some of the musical highlights along the way.

It’s Blossom Dearie in the 1960s and 70s, coming up next on Afterglow

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "MAD ABOUT THE BOY"

Blossom Dearie live at Ronnie Scott’s nightclub in 1966 with Noel [NO-wul] Coward’s “Mad About The Boy”

MUSIC CLIP - THE JIMMY GIUFFRE 4, "I'M OLD FASHIONED"

Mark Chilla here on Afterglow. On this show, we’re looking at some of the 1960s and 1970s work of singer Blossom Dearie. [Dearie would have turned 100 years old on April 28th of this year.]

In 1960, Blossom Dearie had been signed to Norman Granz’s famed jazz record label Verve, where she had recorded six incredible albums. However, around this time, Granz stepped away from the label, and the new management decided to let her go.

For a brief period in the 1960s, she took her cute and clever style to the world of advertising, recording jingles for cold medicine, shoes, and root beer. The root beer company Hires even recorded a promotional album with her in 1963 called Blossom Dearie Sings Rootin' Songs, although it’s hard to find in print today.

In 1964, Dearie was snatched up by another major label, Capitol Records, home to singers like Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, and Nat King Cole. She recorded the album May I Come In? with arranger Jack Marshall, but sadly, due to flagging sales and changing tastes, it was her only album for the label. 

Nevertheless, it contains some fantastic songs, on par with her best work for the Verve label in the 1950s. Let’s hear two tracks now. First, here is Blossom Dearie with a song co-written by her close friend Johnny Mercer: this is “I’m Old Fashioned,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "I'M OLD FASHIONED"

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "I WISH YOU LOVE"

Blossom Dearie in 1964 from her only album for Capitol Records called May I Come In? Just now, we heard the standard “I Wish You Love,” a song originally written in French in 1942. Dearie had spent a considerable amount of time living and performing in Paris in the 1950s. Before that, the song “I’m Old Fashioned” by Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer.

By the mid 1960s, Blossom Dearie was at a crossroads. Not only was she again without a label, but her husband Bobby Jaspar had recently passed away, leaving her a widow at age 40. An old friend, the jazz singer Annie Ross, convinced Dearie to start over in London. Dearie very quickly became enmeshed in the London jazz scene, becoming a staple at various London clubs and warmly embraced by the British audience. Blossom’s humor, aloof stage presence, and talent made her a favorite. When performing live, she had the ability to charm with a cute and silly song, and then bowl you over with a quiet, intimate, yet heartfelt performance. As jazz critic Will Friedwald once said of her, quote, “the less Dearie actually sings… the more meaning she extracts from a text.”

The first album she recorded in London was a live album at the famous Soho jazz club Ronnie Scott’s. It was called Blossom Time At Ronnie Scott’s, released on London’s Fontana label, and it became one of her favorite albums.

We’ll start this next set with two tracks from that album, showcasing both that coy and sensitive side of her performing style. First, here is Blossom Dearie live in 1966 with a fun, little-known Sheldon Harnick tune “The Shape Of Things,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "THE SHAPE OF THINGS"

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG"

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "PEEL ME A GRAPE"

Blossom Dearie, live at Ronnie Scott’s London jazz club in 1966 with “Peel Me A Grape,” written by her friend Dave Frishberg. That comes from the album Sweet Blossom Dearie, the second live album she recorded at that venue. Before we heard two songs from the album Blossom Time At Ronnie Scott’s, her first live album from the venue, also from 1966. That was “When The World Was Young,” another French tune, with English lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Before that, a delightfully devilish Sheldon Harnick tune called “The Shape Of Things.”

Blossom Dearie’s next album for the Fontana label, and her last album of the 1960s, was the 1967 album Soon It’s Gonna Rain. The album featured a larger band, including some strings, flute, and percussion, and features a few newer songs in addition to the jazz standards, including four bossa nova tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

I’ll play two tracks from this album now. We’ll start with a Jobim tune. This is Blossom Dearie in 1967 with “Once I Loved,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "ONCE I LOVED"

Two tracks off of Blossom Dearie’s 1967 album Soon It’s Gonna Rain. Just now, we heard the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “A Wonderful Guy.” Before that, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Once I Loved.”

MUSIC CLIP - WES MONTGOMERY, "INSENSATEZ"

Coming up after a short break, we’ll hear some of Blossom Dearie’s work in the 1970s. Stay with us.

I’m Mark Chilla, and you’re listening to Afterglow

MUSIC CLIP - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "THE SURREY WITH THE FRINGE ON TOP"

MUSIC CLIP - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "DOWN THE DEPTHS OF THE 90TH FLOOR"

Welcome back to Afterglow, I’m Mark Chilla. We’ve been exploring the 1960s and 1970s work of jazz singer Blossom Dearie this hour.

As she moved into the 1970s, Blossom Dearie started to lean into her own original music more so than the jazz standards that helped shape her early career. Her final album for London’s Fontana label, called That's Just the Way I Want to Be (released in 1970) featured nine tracks that were either written or co-written by Blossom. She was quite critical of the album in retrospect, but many of these original songs became staples of her shows for years, so it clearly meant something to her. 

One of those songs was inspired by a 1968 appearance on The David Frost Show. Another guest on that show was John Lennon, still in the height of his Beatles fame. John expressed his admiration for Blossom on TV, even doing a little impression of her. As a result, she turned around and penned this tune in his honor. 

Let’s hear that song now. This is Blossom Dearie in 1970 with her original song “Hey John,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "HEY JOHN"

Blossom Dearie in 1970 with her original song “Hey John,” written about John Lennon. That comes from her final album for the Fontana label That’s Just The Way I Want To Be.

In 1972, Blossom Dearie decided to produce and create her own album. For one, she wanted more control over the session and sound. But she also wanted to experiment freely with the electric piano, a sound that had been taking over easy listening genres of the 1970s. She ended up creating an album called Blossom Dearie Sings, but when she shopped it around to other labels, no one was interested. Undeterred, she released the album herself, creating her own label called Daffodil Records (no doubt inspired by her first name).

Blossom Dearie released five albums on the Daffodil label in the 1970s, all of which are great, if you’re inclined to that 1970s soft rock electric piano sound. Each of the Daffodil albums had a title, but they also had a number. Blossom Dearie Sings was also called “Daffodil, Volume I.” Each record felt like a new experiment: trying out new material, reviving old material, with Blossom always in control.

Let’s hear two tracks from two different Daffodil volumes. The first comes from Volume I, Blossom Dearie Sings. It’s another original, with lyrics by her friend Johnny Mercer (who hung around during this recording session). This is Blossom Dearie with “I’m Shadowing You,” on Afterglow. 

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "I'M SHADOWING YOU"

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "(THERE OUT TO BE A) MOONLIGHT SAVINGS TIME"

Blossom Dearie in 1976 with the jazz standard “(There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time.” That comes from her album My New Celebrity Is You, a.k.a. Daffodil Volume III. Before that, we heard her in 1973 with “I’m Shadowing You,” a song co-written by Dearie and Johnny Mercer, off of the album Blossom Dearie Sings, a.k.a. Daffodil, Volume I.

“Moonlight Saving Time” is an old tune, written in 1930 by Irving Kahal and Harry Richman. And it was also a staple in Blossom Dearie’s catalog; it was also a track on her 1959 album Once Upon A Summertime. Over the years, Dearie had developed her own little songbook, consisting of not only her originals, but a group of her favorite standards to perform live. She even released a compilation album in the 1990s called Our Favorite Songs.

Throughout the 1970s, she would often return to these familiar songs that she had recorded at least one other time in the past, rerecording them on her new albums for Daffodil. If you pick up any of these Daffodil records from the 1970s, you’ll usually see at least one song that she first recorded on a Verve Record or a Fontana record in the 1950s or 1960s, either updated to fit the current style, or reinterpreted with a little more maturity. Let’s hear two such songs now.

First up, this is a song she first sang in 1959 (in the key of B-flat) on her album Blossom Dearie Sings Comden and Green. This version, from nearly 20 years later, comes from her 1977 album Winchester In Apple Blossom Time, a.k.a. Daffodil, Volume IV. This is Blossom Dearie (now in the key of D flat!) with Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green’s “Lucky To Be Me,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "LUCKY TO BE ME"

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "I'M HIP"

Blossom Dearie live at the Reno Sweeney nightclub in 1979 with Bob Dorough’s “I’m Hip,” a song that she first started recording in the 1960s. That comes from her album Needlepoint Magic, a.k.a. Daffodil Volume V. Before that, the song “Lucky To Be Me,” a song she first started recording in the 1950s. That comes from her 1977 album Winchester In Apple Blossom Time, a.k.a. Daffodil, Volume IV.

There are still parts of Blossom Dearie’s recording career that we are uncovering today, more than a decade after her death in 2009. There is, for instance, a new box set called Discover Who I Am, highlighting her London recordings from the late 1960s. And in this box set are two full discs of unreleased recordings, taken from Dearie’s personal collection of tapes. Unfortunately, many of these tapes have unknown origins—we don’t have a date or location. But they reveal an artist who was constantly honing her own voice, discovering depth and meaning in new songs of her time.

To close off this hour, here is one of those unreleased songs, recorded sometime after 1968. This is Blossom Dearie with her heartfelt performance of the Jimmy Webb song “Didn’t We,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "DIDN'T WE"

Blossom Dearie with an unreleased track, recorded sometime after 1968. That was Jimmy Webb’s “Didn’t We.” That track comes from the box set Discover Who I Am, released in 2023.

Thanks for tuning in to this Blossom Dearie edition of Afterglow.

MUSIC CLIP - BLOSSOM DEARIE, "THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME"

Afterglow is part of the educational mission of Indiana University and produced by WFIU Public Radio in beautiful Bloomington, Indiana. The executive producer is John Bailey.

Playlists for this and other Afterglow programs are available on our website. That’s at indianapublicmedia.org/afterglow.

I’m Mark Chilla, and join me next week for our mix of Vocal Jazz and popular song from the Great American Songbook, here on Afterglow