Blossom Dearie, she of the baby-girl voice and the delicate touch, was sui generis: there truly was no one like her. Now she's gone and we left here in this old vulgar world are the poorer for it. Blossom's music was always refined and tasteful, in the best sense of those words and, as a result, she always seemed to me a bulwark holding back the coarseness that surrounds us day by day. They say she was a difficult personality but you would never guess from her music: the exquisite piano and the hushed, whispered quality of her vocals were almost unspeakably gentle. You listened to Blossom after a hard day and you felt human again, and fully civilized. My wife and I made a special trip up to New York City a few years back so we could see her while we still could, and she was delightful. The obituaries say she stopped performing in 2006 so we saw her during her last phase, maybe one of her last performances. Right now, I'm awfully glad we made that trip. I've got lots of her music but my favorite of all her songs is the one that originally led me to her, her interpretation of Cole Porter's "Always True To You In My Fashion." Blossom's is the definitive version and it's a hoot. Another of her songs I've always loved is her version of Comden and Green's "The Party's Over". Listen and enjoy. Blossom won't need flights of angels to sing her to her rest - she can take care of that herself.
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