Customer Reviews

Helen Merrill & Clifford Brown

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I wasn't born when Helen Merill made this record on Christmas Eve some 45 years ago, but it's been in near constant rotation for me for almost 20 years. This is one of the truly GREAT vocal albums of all time--Helen Merrill has the kind of voice that should make just about every man go weak in the knees. Sure, she doesn't have the chops of Ella, Sarah or Billie, but her timing is on par with any of them and she can convey sadness and longing with the best of them(and it doesn't hurt on this recording to have Clifford Brown--among other heavyweights-- backing her up). These are the definitive performances of "You'd be so nice to come home to" and "Falling in Love with Love."

Unfortunately, Helen Merrill never really lived up to the promise of this album. A couple of pretty good records for Emarcy and another for MetroJazz from the mid-to-late 1950's are fine, but then she went into hiding in Italy for a while and resurfaced in Japan and made a few good records there. She's had a good career, but her first record is still her best (and one of the best jazz albums EVER in my opinion.)

ESSENTIAL!

I'm so glad I have this record. It's so refreshing to stumble accross a vocalist this unique. Her voice is so soft but strong. The mood of the album is so low key, deep, introspective. I wish more people my age were more willing to search for vocal artists as astonishing and unique as Helen Merrill.

This is a pretty astonishing debut for the young Merrill, and though she has recorded many fine albums (including her exceptional recent run for Verve/Gitanes) none quite touches this one. The arrangements are by Quincy Jones--hardly the calibre of Gil Evans, whom she brought in for her next album, but attractive nonetheless. Most importantly, Jones chose a light & spacious instrumentation that placed most of the emphasis on Clifford Brown's trumpet (who is the sole horn except for some discreet baritone & flute from Danny Banks), & he also was willing to grant Merrill the kind of achingly slow ballad tempos that can turn turgid & dull in the wrong hands but which are actually Merrill's forte. Only one track here--the last, "S'Wonderful"--is uptempo, & the rest ranges from medium ("You'd Be So Nice to Come Home to") to slow ("Born to Be Blue") to _really_ slow ("Yesterdays", "Don't Explain").

That sounds like a recipe for tedium (it would be with most singers), & yet the results are fascinating throughout, & sometimes have real raised-goosebumps power. Merrill's distinctive, almost vibratoless style--very breathy, somehow both guileless but smart, & without any distancing displays of virtuosity--is complemented by Clifford Brown's gentle but very precise (almost calligraphic) improvisations. These are some of the best of Brown's solos on record--the kind of thing that makes any aspiriing musician run to their instrument to start trying to lift it. Perhaps surprisingly, Brown's solo work here has the definite edge over his other notable recording with a vocalist, Sarah Vaughan.

Fans of this disc will want to search out Merrill's now out of print disc _Brownie_, in which she revisited much of the material from this disc, with an all-star trumpet ensemble playing arrangements of Brown's solos from this disc. It's a very affecting tribute, & is by no means a mere postscript to this disc. It's a pity, though, that while the later disc includes "Born to Be Blue", "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" & "Don't Explain", it doesn't include a version of "Yesterdays", which includes perhaps my favourite of Brown's features on the original recording (complete with its graceful allusions to "Parker's Mood").

Originally recorded in December, 1954, when Helen Merrill was only twenty-five, this recording, now digitally remastered and re-released, was her professional breakthrough. With Clifford Brown on trumpet, arrangements by Quincy Jones, who was himself only twenty-one, and fantastic back-up (Jimmy Jones on piano is especially notable), Helen Merrill was free to unloose her jazz interpretations and her explore her dramatic talent with lyrics. With a lush voice which still retains the sweetness of youth, she offers new variations on familiar melodic lines, provides sensitive interpretations of sad songs, and happily jives to the upbeat.

Billy Holiday's "Don't Explain," one of the saddest songs ever written, is brilliantly interpreted by Merrill, as she reflects the innocence of the betrayed lover who still loves and needs the betrayer and therefore chooses to accept betrayal. When Merrill sings, "You're my joy--and pain," no listener can fail to be moved. Clifford Brown's solo, though more assertive in mood than Merrill, adds to the drama. Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," more upbeat, is classic Merrill, the beautiful lyrics gaining the full romantic treatment, sometimes whispery, with Jimmy Jones's piano in the background and brushwork by drummer Osie Johnson before Brown enters for his solo.

"What's New" by Johnny Mercer receives a slower treatment than usual, Merrill singing in a pensive mood as she reminisces about the past and provides jazz variations to the melodic line. Brown's stellar solo is jazzier, more upbeat and full of improvisation. "Falling in Love With Love," another of Merrill's famous songs, also features a jazz cello by Oscar Pettiford, while the mournful "Yesterdays" is full of vocal variations and jazz improvisation by Brown. "'S Wonderful," the fastest paced, most upbeat song on the CD also features fascinating instrumentation, with lots of fast brushwork, a guitar solo, and Brown's trumpet exploring the full range of the instrument.

Youthful, with an innocent, honest sound, Merrill is no newcomer, having sung professionally since she was fifteen, but here she is at her early best-still having the freshness of youth while having achieved the skills to control her voice and set the pace and mood for the instrumentation in this fantastic album, which features Brown just eighteen months before his death. Those who are fans of Merrill may also enjoy hearing "Just Friends," an amazing CD she made with Stan Getz in 1990, when she was, unbelievably, sixty. n Mary Whipple

What jazz singer, today, could assemble for his or her debut album the likes of legendary trumpeter Clifford Brown; guitarist Barry Galbraith; bassists Milt Hinton and Oscar Pettiford; and a then-21-year-old arranger named Quincy Jones?

Few if any could pull off an equivalent assemblage of contemporary giants today. But an unknown 25-year-old jazz singer, Helen Merrill, managed it in 1955 by virtue of the straight ahead clarity of her beautiful voice, innocent yet tinged with just the right amount of sultriness needed to make it more than an obvious effect.

The solos of Clifford Brown--a trumpeter who'd have given Miles Davis more than a little competition if he'd lived--are particularly striking, alternately plaintive and celebratory, almost an extension of Merrill's voice. So too Jimmy Jones's piano, particularly on Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain."

Like John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" or Miles Davis's "Kinda Blue," Helen Merril! ! l's 1955 debut album--now remastered on CD--is not for nostalgia buffs. Rather, it's for jazz fans who know an original, a classic, when they hear one.

I just can't stop buying this album...two for friends, one for my father, one for my ex, one for my favorite bartender, one for my car, one for my office....My God, has "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" ever been as inviting sung by any other vocalist? And how many of you night-club loving jazz afficionados claimed "Don't Explain" as a personal theme song? Born to Be Blue is spooky, a chills up the spine tingler that leaves you craving Helen Merrill's vocals, and I've played this CD hundreds of times without losing interest...this one fits right into your collection, no matter what else you listen to. Order a few, you'll be wanting to share.

Also available in a collection that adds 8 songs that were in HELEN's third album DREAM OF YOU(try to get that one if you can),this is an essential jazz singing record.I always refered to HELEN as the ever sweet caressing voice.An ideal choice for nightcap listening, which profits from CLIFFORD BROWN's wonderful blowing.When CLIFFORD died at age 26,he was becomming a star trumpetter just like DIZZY and MILES.He had made his mark with SONNY ROLLINS and SARAH VAUGHAN.HELEN MERRILL is a ballader of a superior kind.It's nearly impossible to find better renditions of the first five songs included here.Get that cd fast before AMAZON get out of stock.

Every once in a while, a jazz album has the right tunes, the right arrangments, the right players and the right mood to become a classic. This one is a classic all around, which unfortunately is not in the best sellers where it belongs. Everything is right in its place in this record. If you havent heard of this record before, dont worry, this is classic jazz at its best. Beware: you might fall in love in Helen after listening to that voice.

Clifford Brown just steals the show. Every solo is a masterpiece, this could be the most impressive record in Brownie's career. Of the top 3 at least. After listening to this record, I come to the conclusion that the only trumpeter in the same category as Clifford is Louis Armstrong himself. Amazing, must buy!

This is in response to the negative review of Yair Sadeh -

I know his review must be a shock to the Jazz community, but I wanted to tell you my own personal experience with the "Helen Merrill" album. I bought it on 8 May 1995 ( I always write the date of purchase in the liner notes), listened to it once, and never again, for the reasons Yair Sadeh states in his (too brief) review. I was disappointed with this album, because I'd been listening a lot to "Sarah Vaughan With Clifford Brown", or "The Intimate Ella", an exceellent album, or "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook" and most other albums by these singers, or Billie Holiday, whom I adore. Compared to these favorite singers, Helen Merrill just left me cold, even though I loved, as always, Clifford Brown's contribution.

HOWEVER, 15 years later I'm rediscovering my Jazz collection, aside from Ella and Billie, and Miles and Coltrane, and suddenly "Helen Merrill With Clifford Brown" rose to the very top and is now one of my very favorite albums of my collection.

I think when I first listened to "Helen Merrill", in 1995, I made the big mistake of playing it in broad, sunny daylight, in my bright painting studio, where I had been enjoying all of the above Jazz singers and players. In comparison, at first glance, Helen Merrill seemed emotionless, watered down, amateurish. I now realize I was VERY WRONG. I misunderstood her.

I think, the album "Helen Merrill" is best played late at night, when the lights are dim, and everything else is quiet, when I'm the only person left awake in the house. That's when this album sounds ideal, intimate, and refreshing. Now I find Helen Merrill's voice lovely, and airy, and she allows any emotion in me, and I enjoy her unique, and unobtrusive personality and faultless taste. This is why I never get tired of listening to her on this album, every night. I find it a most rewarding experience.

Compared to Helen Merrill's album, I now find the (excellent) album "Sarah Vaughan With Clifford Brown" somewhat harder to digest. I still very much enjoy listening to it. Sarah Vaughan has one of the most beautiful, breathtaking voices, but at one point a few years ago, it occurred to me, that Sarah Vaughan sounds kind of vain, and self indulgent, and in some moments her voice goes from kind of playful-innocent and child-like to worldly and alluringly passionate, all within a second. These quicksilver mood changes can get a bit too rich - whereas Ella Fitzgerald always sounds natural, and humble and fresh, and I always welcome Ella's singing in my home, no matter what mood I'm in. Listening to the ravishing voice of Sarah Vaughan is like eating a very rich, expensive dessert. It is paradise, but I can only take so much of it. I understand that she's using her voice like a musical instrument, which, because of the connotations of the lyrics is much harder to manage than the abstract nature of music alone.

In contrast, Helen Merrill's voice is fresh, soothing, like a gentle evening breeze. Helen Merrill here also sometimes sounds child-like and innocent, other times knowing, and sad, and hopeless and disappointed, but she does it all in a way that is totally unforced and natural. It is real life taking place.

I highly recommend "Helen Merrill" with Clifford Brown. The recording quality couldn't be better, very clear and life like. It feels as if she were right in your living room, very close to you, singing for you. And I recommend that if you listen to the album for the first time, maybe do it at night, when it's dark outside, and quiet, and you're receptive to her subtlety.

Despite of what I said, I also highly recommend the excellent "Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown" - the second remastering from 2000 sounds fantastic. I think I just heard it so much in the past 17 years, that I find the "Helen Merrill" album a welcome refreshment.

At the time I am writing this review there have been eight reviews and each one of them gives this perfect recording a five-star rating. Well, who am I to argue with perfection. After all, it was because of the great five-star reviews on Amazon that I decided to place my order for this CD. Amazon shipped it for free, and five days later it arrived in the mail in perfect condition.

The first time I played this CD I loved it. The second time I loved it even more. I think I have listened to this particular CD at least two dozen times... over and over again...and it still isn't getting old. Again, thank you to Amazon for recommending this to me and then for all of the insightful reviewers who encouraged me to make the purchase even though as much of a fan I am of Clifford Brown, I knew very little about Helen Merrill. Brownie is amazing as always as is the entire group - Danny Bank (sax, clarinet, flute), Jimmy Jones (piano), Barry Galbraith (guitar), Milt Hilton (bass), Osie Johnson (drums), and the legendary Quincy Jones as the conductor and arranger. However, this is really Helen Merrill's golden moment under the sun. The way she can go from softly vocalizing a sad song like Billie Holiday's "Dont Explain" and making you feel (along with Brownie's melancholy trumpet) like your heart is about to break to lilting in a fast tempo with swingin rythm to the very upbeat "s' Wonderful". Every song on this album is great. Also the sound quality of this digitally remastered CD (from Japan)is absolutely perfect.