Jazz Reviews : A Magical, Musical Blossom Dearie at the Tiffany

Be advised. A small miracle is taking place on Sunset Boulevard, and her name is Blossom Dearie. In town for a two-week engagement at Hollywood’s Tiffany Theater, the elfin-voiced New York singer is conjuring up musical magic in every performance.

Wednesday night’s show was a typical example. Opening with a brisk stroll through the whimsical lyrics of Dave Frishberg and Bob Dorough’s “I’m Hip,” Dearie then moved into a somewhat slower-than-usual reading of “I Won’t Dance” that would, nonetheless, have delighted Fred Astaire. Superb miniaturist that she is, Dearie capped her interpretation with a strategically placed, sloe-eyed raise of her shoulder on the line, “Especially when you do the Continental.”

A set of Dearie originals revealed both her skill with melody and her knack for picking superb lyricists. “I’m Shadowing You,” written with Johnny Mercer, still sounded as bright, witty and contemporary as it did when it was composed, a decade-and-a-half ago. “Bye, Bye Country Boy” and “I Don’t Remember,” written with Jack Segal, are darker songs, rendered all the more intense by the sheer vulnerability of Dearie’s singing.

As in most of her programs, she sang more Frishberg songs--”My Attorney, Bernie” and “Wheelers And Dealers”--with a subtle sense of weary delight perfectly tailored to the multilevel meanings that course through Frishberg’s works. Dearie is, in almost every way, the perfect interpreter for his material.

She was equally on the mark with a vastly different set of songs by Noel Coward, as well as the hilarious double-entendres of “Pro Musica Antiqua” and “The Ballad of the Shape of Things to Come.”

Dearie received strong, subtle support from bassist Joel Di Bartolo, as well as from her own smoothly rhythmic piano playing. But the heart and soul of her art lies in her insistence upon finding, composing and performing material rich with creative potential.

Dearie’s surprisingly childlike sound is actually the voice of conscience, reminding us that even new songs can be witty and urbane, that lyrics can do more than rhyme in simple couplets, that dissonant harmonies can perfectly define complex emotions, and--most of all--that humor is the true seasoning of life.

Dearie continues at the Tiffany Theater through Sunday and returns Tuesday through May 19.