Helen Merrill: Brownie; A Homage To Clifford Brown

Helen Merrill | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 27, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000001E4R
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,791 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Your Eyes

2. Daahoud

3. Born To Be Blue

4. I Remember Clifford

5. Joy Spring

6. I'll Remember April

7. Don't Explain

8. Brownie

9. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

10. I'll Be Seeing You

11. Memories Of You

12. Gone With The Wind

13. Largo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Many Good Things To Say About This CD.............., January 25, 2009

By 

Robert J. Ament "papacoolbreeze" (Ballwin, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Helen Merrill: Brownie; A Homage To Clifford Brown (Audio CD)

that one could probably write a book about the participating musicians as well as the music and the musician to whom it is a memorial and a dedication.

I've listened to this album often and am constantly struck by the hard work , dedication, love and emotion, and inspiration that seems to be spontaneously shared in these few cuts. It is a beautiful tribute to a brilliant trumpet icon with an all too brief career.

This album commemorates Clifford Brown, and in particular the album, "Helen Merrill", that he cut with the singer 40 years earlier. I have that album and I would recommend it also.

There are only three songs from that album which are played here. This is where it gets really unique. I think there is a story in each track of the album. Certainly the trumpet players, Lew Soloff, Roy Hargrove, Tom Harell and Wallace Roney are among the best today. The rhythm section is HUGE with pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Victor Lewis. The uniqueness that I referred to is that Clifford Brown's solos on the three recordings from 40 years earlier were painstakingly transcribed and and played in unison by the four on "Born To Be Blue", overdubbed by Lew Soloff on "Don't Explain" and reproduced by Soloff, Hargrove and Harrell on "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To". If you have listened to Clifford's solos.....not an easy task.

The other tracks are just as compelling with so many highlights.....Tom Harrell doing a solo rendition of "Joy Spring"....Wallace Roney with the rhythm section on "Daahoud"..... sensitive solos throughout including the wonderful piano of Kenny Barron.......and the voice of Helen Merrill.

I can't think of another vocalist who would have had the emotional impact on this album that Ms Merrill does. A personal favorite of mine over the years has been the Mel Torme composition "Born To Be Blue". In my opinion she was born to sing this song......although this quality of hers, a haunting voice with a melancholy sadness in her delivery, carries over well on "Don't Explain" and "I'll Remember April" as well. Her vocal on "Born To Be Blue", Tom Harrell on the obligato solo and Clifford's solo done with four trumpets still blows me away emotionally.

Make no mistake, this is a terrific jazz album, one that you will play repeatedly especially if you are familiar with Clifford Brown......and if not......you still appreciate fine jazz, excellent trumpet work, and a vocalist still in a class by herself, then you will appreciate having this album.

5.0 out of 5 stars Only the greatest are able to make a homage to a respected genius, August 16, 2011

By 

Bertrand Vermeer (Netherlands, Europe) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Helen Merrill: Brownie; A Homage To Clifford Brown (Audio CD)

I realy have almost nothing to add to the former reviews.
You must be of about the same brilliant level as the commemorated artist to be credible in paying a hommage to him/her.
Helen Merrill and the four fantastic trumpet-players succeeded in that respect.
Even the copies of Brownies solo's, played by one or more of these great trumpeters, remain new and fascinating after repeated listening.
And what about the Dvorak symphony-part, played by the four together? In my opinion that surpasses the original!
A record to cherish.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timeless Jazz Singer & Her Friends Invite You to Celebrate Clifford With Them, September 22, 2010

By 

German Artist (California) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Helen Merrill: Brownie; A Homage To Clifford Brown (Audio CD)

Trumpeter Clifford Brown was killed at the age of 25, in a car accident, on the second anniversary of his marriage to his wife LaRue, which was also LaRue's 22nd birthday.

Years later, in an interview, LaRue shared the following story:

"One starlit evening we went to Santa Monica Beach. Clifford was playing with the sounds of the Pacific Ocean accompanying him. The music was lovely! The tune was one that he had just written and I was hearing for the first time. He called it "LaRue". He asked me to marry his music and him."

I had read this interview some time ago and was deeply moved by it, and think about it al lot, but it wasn't on my mind when I purchased this album by Helen Merrill.

Innocently I put on the record, and at the first sound of her voice, tears started streaming down my face, during the whole song, and long after. When I was able to read the liner notes, I found, that this first song, a ballad, was a composition by Clifford Brown, never recorded in his lifetime, performed as "LaRue" by a musician some time after his death. I'm pretty sure this is the song that Clifford played to his wife that starlit evening. Helen Merrill sure SINGS it that way. The sound of her voice is deeply expressive, moving, and tender, at times almost sounding like Clifford's trumpet.

For this album, Helen Merrill has composed sensitive, tasteful lyrics to Clifford's music, aptly titled: "Your Eyes". As is the case with all of Helen Merrill's oeuvre, there is not a hint of sentimentality to be found, for she is a pure Jazz singer of the highest order.

In the moving liner notes, Helen Merrill recounts how she, and indeed the whole jazz community went into a silent depression from the moment Clifford was killed, as if they didn't talk about it, it never happened. Four decades later, she was finally able to be part of the album that had been in her heart since Clifford's death.

This is a lovely album from start to finish. Helen Merrill has always been a peerless singer, from her first album (with Clifford Brown). The years of life she has lived since then have helped her to deepen her always timeless and sensitive interpretations. The fact that her voice has matured is an asset here, sending the sincere emotions she communicates right under your skin.

All other participants of this album are excellent, too, as are the informative liner notes, including insightful descriptions of the performances of every song. The sound quality is excellent as well.

I very much recommend this unique and lovely album. I also recommend her first album "Helen Merrill", as well as the double album "Dream Of You / At Night".