Blossom Dearie: Give Him the Ooh-La-La (Verve Vault series) [VERVE]

Why you'll love it

This Verve Vault series pressing is mono on 180g vinyl. It was the second of her six Verve albums, built on Cole Porter, Harold Arlen and Cy Coleman songs with a dream rhythm section.

This edition

• Verve Vault series
• 180g vinyl
• Mono

About the album

Blossom Dearie never needed to raise her voice to hold a room. Her small, clear, girlish voice and her nimble piano made intimacy a style all of its own (she sings and plays as if confiding in you across a small table), and after her debut did well for Verve, the label sent her straight back to the studio for more.

Ray Brown plays bass, Herb Ellis guitar and Jo Jones drums; Brown and Ellis came from Oscar Peterson's trio and Jones had powered Count Basie's band, yet they play with the lightest touch. She opens with Cole Porter's "Just One Of Those Things" at a gallop, slows down for "Like Someone In Love," teases out Porter's title track, sings "Plus Je T'Embrasse" in French and closes with Cy Coleman's "I Walk A Little Faster." Bart Howard, who wrote Fly Me To The Moon, supplies "Let Me Love You," and David Heneker's "Bang Goes The Drum (And You're In Love)" is pure musical-theatre sparkle.

Nearly seventy years on it still sounds like a late set in a very good supper club. Dress code optional; good posture encouraged.

Also at Kops: more Blossom Dearie on vinyl · browse Vocal Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Verve (cat# MGV-2081), a reissue of the 1958 album.