Blossom Dearie

Being a little slow, I did not realize that Blossom Dearie passed away a few days ago, and I was selfishly sad to hear it even though she did die in her sleep at home, which is not such a bad way to go.

I can't remember when I heard Blossom the first time, but I quickly adopted her piano and sweet, crisp voice as the perfect background for reading, writing, and dinnerpartying. I suspect none of this would have pleased her: apparently she did not hesitate to ask people to be quiet while she performed. Still, I meant no disrespect by my multitasking, and I did often hang on her every word, even when I was technically doing something else. Everything is nicer with her voice in the room.

For years I hoped to celebrate publishing a whole novel by going to Manhattan and hearing her at Danny's Skylight Room, where she was performing not infrequently and, in fact, gave her last performance in 2006 before it closed up shop... so the loss of that dream hurts, too. But you have to be grateful for a life that yielded so much wonderful music and so much positive influence on other musicians, don't you? Not to mention the tidiest assessment of adjectives you could ever hope to hear.