| Jazz |
Summary: Dawn Clement takes on Blossom Dearie’s songbook with poise and subtlety, blending close-up vocals and elegant piano into a tribute that lands somewhere ageless and quietly her own.
Dawn Clement’s Dear Ms. Dearie: A Graceful, Intimate Tribute to Blossom Dearie
Dawn Clement, composer, pianist, and vocalist, returns with an album that’s both warmly respectful and quietly bold: a tribute to Blossom Dearie, that one-of-a-kind composer, pianist, and singer who charmed bebop with her gentle wit and put her stamp on vocal jazz until her passing in 2009.
Lately, everyone seems obsessed with digging up old records, remixing the past, and chasing some kind of musical nostalgia. Clement heads in a different direction. Where many reach for reinvention or grand gestures, she chooses intimacy. She doesn’t treat Dearie’s music like an artifact in a glass case. Instead, she steps right into it, picking songs that feel close to her, that actually mean something, not just the obvious favorites. The result? More than a simple tribute. You get a reimagining that feels genuinely felt, with her voice showing real affection for Dearie’s work, one song after another.
Her arrangements really anchor the album, they’re sharp, never flashy, and quietly inventive. They don’t beg for attention, but they steer how you hear everything. Clement stays away from imitation. She draws a fine, tight line between past and present, letting each track shift and glide with an easy kind of grace. Step inside the record, and you may want to stay awhile. This album doesn’t just echo Dearie’s humor, warmth, and harmonic magic, it puts Clement’s own compositional savvy on display: music that surprises, charms, and calms you at once.
Still, maybe once or twice, the album’s polish pushes a little close to perfection. If you listen for drama or big contrasts, you might wish for a jolt or an edge. But it doesn’t feel like a flaw, it’s part of her vision. She goes for unity over showmanship.
Keep listening, though, and something becomes clear: Clement’s piano is the heart of this record. Her touch is unmistakably her own, breathing new honesty into these songs. The closeness of her playing makes her singing feel even more present. She becomes a kind of quiet storyteller, bringing old favorites to life without ever overstating things. On standards like “I Know the Moon,” she draws you in, you’re rediscovering them, almost for the first time.
And look, tribute albums are tricky. Many fall apart under all that imitation or end up just a shadow of the original. Clement faces this straight on. She wants to win over both Dearie diehards and fans who’ve followed her own journey. The other musicians keep things elegant and controlled, though part of you might wish for moments when the band cuts loose or puts themselves forward. Still, it’s Clement’s show. She carries it with total assurance.
Dear Ms. Dearie is, in the end, all about the music, not the flash. No unnecessary fireworks, no empty technical displays. She focuses on the little things, every note, every shade, every bit of silence serves the song. Doing that, she finds a kind of fragile balance, the sort of thing that’s rare now, when so much music wants your attention right away.
Back in my 2025 review of Clement’s album Delight, I wrote: There are artists who quietly trace their path through the contemporary jazz scene, and then there are the ones, like Dawn Clement, who light it up just by being there. For over twenty years, she’s created a voice that’s sharp, deeply emotional, and rhythmically alive. Delight is a lesson in subtlety and originality, it doesn’t try to win everyone, and it’s better for that. It speaks to listeners who want depth, not just comfort.
I wouldn’t change a thing about that review today. If anything, this new record only proves it all over again. Jazz lives when artists honor what came before but aren’t afraid to push the present forward. Clement is in that select group.
Despite all its elegance, the album stays open and inviting. It’s a pleasure to share, whether you’re listening closely on your own or with friends over dinner. Maybe that’s its true strength: it welcomes you in without pushing, opens up but never overpowers.
When you’re just listening, Clement lets you in on something quiet and personal, clear and patient, careful about the small things. Live, you sense it probably grows, the shared experience, the unrepeatable buzz. Maybe that’s the whole point. Some music doesn’t want to steal the spotlight. It just wants to stick with you, quietly, long after the final note’s gone.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, April 27th 2026
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Musicians :
Dawn Clement – piano & vocals
Steve Kovalcheck – guitar
John Clayton – bass
Jeff Hamilton – drums
Track Listing :
The Gentleman is a Dope 4:10
Tout Doucement 4:08
Figure 8 5:31
Dance Only With Me 3:38
Hey John 4:38
I Like You, You’re Nice 2:27
Our Love is Here to Stay 2:46
It’s Love 3:31
I Know the Moon 4:59
I’m Hip 3:52
Lies of Handsome Men 5:14
Our Day Will Come 4:16
Once Upon a Summertime 4:56
The Party’s Over 3:00
Home 3:49
Production Info:
Produced by Matt Wilson
Recorded by Steve Genewick at Tritone Recording, Los Angeles, CA on May 27-29, 2025
Mixed by Steve Genewick at The Stewart House, Los Angeles, CA
Mastered by Christoph Stickel at CS Mastering, Vienna Austria
Photography by Lauren Desberg
Cover design & layout by John Bishop