Blossom Dearie (1924-2009), so the story goes, received her (perfectly apt) name when a neighbour brought over some peach blossoms to the Dearie home on the day she was born. Good job they didn't bring Chrysanthemums. Between 1956-60 the singer recorded six albums for Norman Granz's Verve label. This reissue brings two of them together (not that you'd know this by reading the CD booklet), namely My GentlemanFriend and Sings Comden And Green. In this age of larynx-shredding ostentation, the singer's gossamer-light minimalism now seems all the more remarkable and valuable. As Whitney Balliett wrote of her voice in American Singers, “without a microphone, it would not reach the second floor of a doll house”. Her singular vocal stylings and swinging piano playing combine to delightful effect on material that ranges from a captivating ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’ to a slinky ‘Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me’. Three bonus tracks include ‘Be Still, TV and ‘Short P, Not LP’, both dating from 1949 and featuring Dearie scatting with a slightly out of tune Jimmy Raney (the line-up also includes a young Stan Getz ), plus a seductively languid ‘Surrey With The Fringe On Top’ from one of her occasional appearances on the Tonight Show with Jack Paar.