Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 33:28
Size: 76.7 MB
Styles: Piano jazz, Vocal jazz
Year: 2003
Art: Front
[2:42] 1. The Continental
[2:47] 2. The Boy Next Door
[2:31] 3. They Can't Take That Away From Me
[2:31] 4. Moonlight Saving Time (There Ought To Be A)
[2:53] 5. The Surrey With The Fringe On Top
[2:51] 6. April In Paris
[2:39] 7. Blue Moon
[3:19] 8. Down In The Depths
[2:46] 9. La Legende Du Pays Des Oiseaux
[3:01] 10. Lettre A Virginie
[2:40] 11. Toute Ma Joie
[2:43] 12. Embrasse Moi Bien
Two lesser-known sides of Blossom Dearie -- both recorded in Paris in the 50s! The first 8 tracks on the set are from a rare 10" session recorded in 1955 -- one that features Blossom only at the piano, not singing, but swinging in a solid trio format. Tracks on that session include "The Boy Next Door", "Down In The Depths Of The 90th Floor", "April In Paris", and "Blue Moon". The other 4 tracks on the set are from a 45rpm ep by Blossom's famous vocal group, The Blue Stars. The ensemble featured vocalese performances by young singers that included Christine Legrand, Jeanine De Waleyne, and Fats Sadi -- and was the virtual blueprint for later jazz vocal groups, like Les Double Six or The Swingle Singers. Titles from that group include "Toute Ma Joie", "Embrasse Moi Bien", and "Toute Ma Joie".
Sweet" can testify: it's the only album - if you exclude the 45rpm record on which she accompanies her husband Bobby Jaspar ("Jazz in Paris" N18) - where the singer doesn't relegate the pianist to the background, and it was in Paris that she had this opportunity. A friend of Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis and Gil Evans, Blossom Dearie had been amongst the regulars in the basement (situated behind a Chinese laundry) where the latter arranger was living, and remaking, jazz. With Miles Davis in particular. But it was in Greenwich Village, at the "Chantilly" to be precise, that Blossom sang and played the piano when she began as a professional musician, sometimes accompanying Tony Bennett. And in 1952 Nicole Barclay invited her to come and play in Paris.
It seemed, at the time, that there would be no salvation for jazz if it wasn't played on the Left Bank. Yet Blossom Dearie never belonged to the little world gravitating around the bell-tower of Saint-Germain-des-Pres: it was in the "Mars Club" - an extremely confidential place which, in the opinion of all "cellar rats", was wrongly located near the Champs-Elysees - that she met up with singer Bobby Short again, an old friend from Greenwich Village. Annie Ross came, and then Bob Dorough, who was accompanying Sugar Ray Robinson - he'd left the ring when tempted by the footlights. When the ex-boxer left the French capital, his pianist stayed on at the "Mars Club", working with Blossom on the confection of a few songs.
The terrain was a familiar one for someone who'd belonged not only to the "Blue Flames", a vocal group attached to Woody Herman's orchestra, but also to the "Blue Rays" (with Alvino Ray's band); familiar terrain, too, for the organiser of a vocal octet called the "Blue Stars". The paternity was Eddie Barclay's, and he'd reckoned that a group singing hit songs in French, with a zest of jazz and swing, had its chances... Quite an euphemism! The legend of the land of birds, adapted from George Shearing's Lullaby of Birdland with an arrangement by Michel Legrand, was a total triumph, including in the United States - half a million copies were sold! To skilfully complete the group's first 45rpm recording, there was Toute ma joie, another adaptation (of Nat King Cole's That's my girl), plus two French songs, Embrasse-moi bien and Lettre a Virginie, both written by Jean Constantin. Blossom had gathered four male vocalist-musicians - Sadi, the vibraphone-player, was the lead tenor; arranger & pianist Christian Chevallier was second tenor; trumpeter Roger Guerin was a baritone, and pianist & saxophonist Jean Mercadier sang bass - together with four female voices: Christiane Legrand (first soprano), Jeanine de Waleyne (second soprano), with Nadine Young and Blossom herself (contraltos). The performances of the "Blue Stars" can sometimes appear slightly dated, but Blossom Dearie, accompanied by Herman Garst and Bernard Planchenault, makes The boy next door, The surrey with the fringe on top and Cole Porter's Down in the depths of the 90th floor sound like they were recorded only yesterday. ~ Alain Tercinet
Recording information: Paris, France (11/1954-??/1955).
Blossom Dearie (vocals, piano); Roger Guerin (vocals, trumpet); Fats Sadi (vocals, vibraphone); Christian Chevalier, Christiane Legrand, Janine de Waleyne (vocals); Michel Legrand (piano); Bernard Planchenault (drums).
The Pianist/Les Blue Stars
