If I were a bell, I'd go ding-dong-ding-dong-ding

Eternal thanks to that font of knowledge of all things Kylie, Marky at Shine On And On for this fab snippet of information:

Kylie Minogue pays a personal tribute to one of the most unique jazz artists of the last 50 years; Blossom Dearie. A ‘musician’s musician’, Dearie was an iconic figure on the cabaret circuit in New York, Paris and London. Citing her as a major influence – indeed the two singers met shortly before Blossom died in 2009 – Minogue explores, first hand on both sides of the Atlantic, this fascinating musical career.

Kylie on Blossom: Thursday 22nd December at 10.00pm, BBC Radio 2.

We shall be listening!

Blossom Dearie was a jazz singer in the "cabaret style" - one of our favourite singers of that genre here at Dolores Delargo Towers - with more than thirty hugely successful albums to her credit in a nine decade career. She collaborated over her years with artists and writers as diverse as Miles Davis, Johnny Mercer, Annie Ross, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Sting! Critic Whitney Balliett once wrote: "Her voice would scarcely reach the second story of a doll house". What tosh.

You can decide for yourself, as I have chosen for your delectation just a small selection of some of Miss Dearie's finest recordings:

Blossom Dearie - I'm Hip

Blossom Dearie - Lush Life

Blossom Dearie and Billy Taylor - If I Were a Bell

Blossom Dearie - The Lies of Handsome Men

Facts about Blossom Dearie:

• Blossom Dearie was her real name. She was so named because she was born in April when blossoms were at their height; Dearie is he father's Scottish family name.
• She moved to Paris in 1952 and formed a vocal group "The Blue Stars of Paris", which included Michel Legrand's sister. The group would later evolve into the Swingle Singers.
• From her first appearance at Ronnie Scott's club in London in 1966 Blossom Dearie became a cult musical figure in Swinging London, and recorded four albums in the UK.

Blossom Dearie died on 7th February 2009, aged 84, at her apartment in Greenwich Village, New York City.

RIP

Blossom Dearie website