JAZZ REVIEW : Blossom Dearie Captures Cabaret Charm

Blossom Dearie, the epitome of East Side New York chic, is back in town. Friday and Saturday she delighted audiences at McCabe’s in Santa Monica; on Sunday she will be at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City.

Seated at the piano, which she treats with delicacy and poise, backed by bassist Bill Takas, Dearie has lost none of her pristine charm. With a voice of Dresden china fragility, she captures every mood from cabaret-song insouciance (“You Fascinate Me So”) to world-weariness (“Lush Life”) and from light comedy (Dave Frishberg’s “My Attorney Bernie”) to hilarious satire.

It is on this last level that she scores most decisively. The song “Bruce,” with its advice on dress and makeup, is outrageously witty.

Dearie has found a succession of brilliant lyricists from around the world who enable her to maintain a unique level of interest in every song. The waltz “Sweet Georgia Fame,” which she dedicated to an English musician, has a special poignancy. “I Don’t Remember” (her music and Jack Segal’s lyrics) is another example of the acme in compositional craftsmanship.

“Someone Is Sending Me Flowers,” by Sheldon Harnock, is perhaps the funniest item in her special material bag. If you didn’t give away the secret to the film “The Crying Game,” you would be wise to be similarly silent about the punch line to this hilarious song.