I am not the kind of person who has opinions about jazz. But there are a few things I think I’ll never tire of hearing: “Well You Needn’t,” “So What,” and just about anything sung and played by Blossom Dearie. If it is possible at all to belt out a song delicately, it was possible only for her. Mrs. Q and I were lucky enough to see her play once, probably around 2000, in the strange Thai restaurant / jazz club that served as her regular stage in New York.
Here she performs the Dave Frishberg classic “I’m Hip” (no video)
A TV appearance, singing “Surrey with the Fringe on the Top”:
And what might be her most famous vocal performance, “Figure Eight” from Schoolhouse Rock:
You know, “Unpack Your Adjectives” has been stuck in my head for years, but I never realized why until now. What a voice.
I dreamed the other night that I was listening to this song but the lyrics had been changed to “Unpack Your Axioms.”
My mathematical taste is very similar to yours, and yet my taste in music appears to be the complete opposite. Are these facts predictive at all on whether or not I will like your taste in books (or, for that matter, hamburgers)?
I think your taste in both music and burgers is more elevated than mine. Whereas in books, as in math, I like to think that my taste is already reasonably high-culture — so maybe my judgment can be trusted in that arena?
On the other hand, you certainly read much more than I do, and it is reasonable to suppose that your taste in books is more refined than mine. But I wonder how taste in novels correlates (if at all) to taste in art.