Sometimes you might not recognize a singer’s name, but then you hear the voice. And that you recognize immediately.

Blossom Dearie (surprisingly, not a stage name) studied classical piano as a young child in New York, but soon fell in love with the lively and colorful chordal palette of jazz. She began her professional music career in vocal groups in the 1940’s and 50’s, eventually finding her way back to caressing the keys once her solo career began. Dearie gained popularity playing in Manhattan nightclubs — proving highly influential on other jazz pianists — but her records established more of a cult following.

In 1966, Blossom recorded her first live album at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London, a swinging place to show your face. While in town, a fellow musician told her to check out another purveyor of the pianistic arts, one Georgie Fame. She fell in love with his playing and his voice, and soon afterwards, while watching a friend’s children happily dancing to one of Georgie’s records, she conceived the idea for a song.

Now, many songs written over the decades bear the name of a musical artist (e.g. “Buddy Holly” by Weezer, “Jackie Wilson Said” by Van Morrison), and although I’m not completely familiar with the entirety of music pre-1955, I can’t think of any earlier examples until Bo Diddley named a song after himself, or when The Carefrees released “We Love You Beatles” in 1964. That particular single, however — along with the dozen other subsequent titles featuring The Beatles in the mid-60’s — is a novelty record. The first serious song I can think of by a musical artist titled after another musical artist is “Sweet Georgie Fame” (presumably a wordplay riff on “Sweet Georgia Brown”). There’s probably a blues or jazz song from 1931 that will prove me wrong, but for now I’m sticking to my guns — with or without ammunition.

Anyway, Blossom Dearie returned to Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in 1967 to record another live album, and for this performance, Georgie Fame himself was in attendance as she played this tribute to him in front of an audience for the first time. That live recording was released as a single in the UK, and while it wasn’t a national hit, “Sweet Georgie Fame” did reach Radio London’s Top 40, Dearie’s only appearance on a pop chart in any country. Here’s Blossom, swinging it sweetly:

About that voice. For anyone who grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons in the US in the 1970’s and 80’s, Blossom Dearie’s main claim to fame exists on television. I’ve mentioned Schoolhouse Rock a couple of times before, back in the early days, and the subject arises again now. The musical director for the series, Bob Dorough, worked with Dearie in a vocal group back in the 50’s and he invited her to contribute. With her distinctively quirky, girlish voice, she was a perfect choice to sing on a children’s cartoon show, but she only appeared, indelibly, on two and a half episodes. Here’s Blossom, teaching us about math: