Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Roberta Donnay: Blossom-ing!

Roberta Donnay: Blossom-ing!

By Jack Bowers
November 8, 2022
View read count

Blossom-ing! is vocalist

Roberta Donnay

vocals
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Roberta Donnay's tribute to one of the most memorable jazz singers who ever lived,

Blossom Dearie

piano and vocals
1926 - 2009

" data-original-title="" title="">Blossom Dearie. She does so via sixteen songs associated with Dearie including

" data-original-title="" title="">Billie Holiday's "Billie's (or Blossom's) Blues," retitled here "Roberta's Blues." After leading with that one, Donnay lends her tremulous little-girl voice (eerily similar to Dearie's) to one of Dearie's best-known themes, "Peel Me a Grape," before scanning the others.

Unlike Dearie, Donnay doesn't accompany herself at the piano, but

Mike Greensill

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Greensill does a splendid job sitting in for Dearie (who was an excellent pianist). Others backing Donnay are guitarist

Jose Neto

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Jose Neto, bassist

Ruth Davies

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Ruth Davies and drummer

Mark Lee

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Lee, with

David Sturdevant

harmonica

" data-original-title="" title="">David Sturdevant added on harmonica ("Spring in Manhattan") and

MB Gordy

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">MB Gordy on percussion ("Inside a Silent Tear"). Two of the songs are rendered in French, a nod to Dearie's early years in Paris as a member of the vocal group the Blue Stars, which later became the Swingle Singers.

Donnay, who is also a producer and award-winning composer, did not have to drastically alter her persona to record an homage to Dearie; she has basically always sung like that, even though she didn't delve deeply into Dearie's music until well after she had launched her now thirty years and counting career. That came about in some measure through a friendship with

Bob Dorough

vocals
1923 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Bob Dorough, one of Dearie's close friends and collaborators. After becoming familiar with Dearie's music, Donnay knew she had to record a tribute to her celebrated prototype who died in 2009.

Several of the songs (and composers) on Blossom-ing! are well known, others less so, but every one of them is admirable in its own way, and Donnay makes them breathe with warmth and awareness. Like Dearie's, her voice is well-suited to the music, and her interpretations are earnest and persuasive. Cole Porter, the Gershwin brothers, Jule Styne, Frank Loesser and

Johnny Mandel

arranger
b.1925

" data-original-title="" title="">Johnny Mandel are among the tunesmiths, as are Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh ("You Fascinate Me So," "It Amazes Me"), Lee Adams and Charles Strouse ("Put on a Happy Face"), Anthony Scibetta and Alice Reach ("Spring in Manhattan"), Max Francois and Ben Ryan ("Plus Je t'Embrasse").

Dearie co-wrote "Inside a Silent Tear" and "A Paris," while the peerless

Dave Frishberg

piano
1933 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Frishberg authored "Peel Me a Grape." Greensill's arrangements are by and large spot-on, with one exception: "The Party's Over," from Bells Are Ringing, is a lament and should be played that way, not as a jaunty foxtrot. Aside from that one slip, no problem. And no problem with Donnay either, as she clearly lends her heart and soul to this rhapsodic tribute to one of the jazz world's remarkable treasures, the incomparable Blossom Dearie.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Roberta��s Blues; Peel Me a Grape; Just One of Those Things; Inside a Silent Tear; Plus Je T��Embrasse; Someone to Watch Over Me; Moonlight Savings Time; A Paris; The Party��s Over; If I Were a Bell; Spring in Manhattan; Unless It��s You; You Fascinate Me So; I Wish You Love; It Amazes Me; Put on a Happy Face.

Personnel

Roberta Donnay

vocals

Mike Greensill

piano

Ruth Davies

bass, acoustic

Mark Lee

drums

Jose Neto

guitar

MB Gordy

drums

David Sturdevant

harmonica

Album information

Title: Blossom-ing! | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Self Produced

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Step By Step
< Previous

Living Sky
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.