Press kit, Blossom Dearie · Press kit, official use
Blossom Margrethe Dearie was born on April 28, 1924, in East Durham, New York. She was named Blossom after the pear blossoms her brothers picked and decorated their house with to celebrate her birth. By the age of two Blossom was able to pick up songs on the family piano. Her mother remarked that, unlike most children who would bang at the keys when in front of a piano, Blossom thoughtfully played songs from ear and memory. Debussy's Afternoon of the Faun was a favorite. Lessons began around age five and she studied classical music until her teens. She was encouraged to enter the Peabody Conservatory but switched to jazz. In the late 1940s, Blossom traveled to New York City where she spent time in vocal groups with bandleaders like Alvino Rey's Blue Reys and Woody Herman's Blue Flames, in between headlining acts at some New York clubs. She was there for the Birth of the Cool, hanging in Gil Evans apartment with Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis. Her first recordings were playing piano on an Annie Ross record. Blossom marked the starting point of her career in 1950 when she sat down and paired piano, with voice, in a little club called the Chantilly in Greenwich Village. It was here that Blossom was introduced to Nicole and Eddie Barclay who persuaded her to come to Paris to play and record. Her first solo album followed on the Barclay label. In Paris, Blossom worked with peers Annie Ross, Bobby Short, and dear friend, Bob Dorough at the Mars Club and the Left Bank. It was at this time that she also recorded the Billboard hit "Lullaby of Birdland" with the Blue Stars of France. She returned to the U.S. in 1956. What followed were six phenomenal albums for Verve Records: Blossom Dearie; Give Him The Ooh La La; Once Upon A Summertime; Soubrette Sings Broadway Hit Songs; Sings Comden and Green; and My Gentleman Friend. Oscar Peterson's rhythm section rounded out Blossom's band including Ray Brown, Ed Thigpen, Jo Jones, and Mundell Lowe.
