Helen Merrill - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

Published on Jan 21, 2014
Festival de Jazz d'Antibes Juan-les-Pins, France July 1960

Billie Holiday and Helen Merrill

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Tessa Souter, whose singing voice I love (go here), sent along a lovely email the other day. Tessa knows I've interviewed Helen Merrill at length (start here) and wanted me to hear something. It was a link to a tape of Helen and Billie Holiday singing You Go to My Head at producer-writer Leonard Feather's apartment in New York in November 1956. This is right around the time of Holiday's Carnegie Hall concert with Chico Hamilton, and months earlier Helen had recorded Dream of You with Gil Evans, one of my favorite vocal albums of the 1950s. This seven-minute-plus audio clip is a fabulous peek into a scene nearly 60 years ago at a party late at night, when two great stylists were getting loose and having fun. Here's You Go to My Head...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Helen Merrill: 'Parole e Musica'

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Back in 1960, singer Helen Merrill had a bad romantic breakup and escaped to Rome. She was invited to record there by pianist Romano Mussolini, whom she had met at a jazz festival in Belgium. So she broke her Atlantic contract and moved to Italy, where she became a "little star." But, as Helen told me during an interview in 2009, she didn't know what to do with the stardom. During this two-year period of emotional grief and recuperation, Helen recorded one of her finest albums that's easily on par with her recordings with Clifford Brown (Helen Merrill and the Clifford Brown Sextet) and Gil Evans (Dream of You).

The 1960 album—Parole e Musica—has just been reissued by Rearward, an Italian label, and features standards arranged by pianist Piero Umiliani. But Words and Music, as it's known in English, has an interesting twist. Ballads like Autumn in New York, These Foolish Things and When Your Lover Is Gone are preceded by about a minute of eager, romantic Italian narration by Fernando Cajati followed by Helen's glorious, breathy vocal. It's as if Cajati's voice is whispering something in Helen's ear at a cafe and the songs are her response. Or that Cajati's voice is more of an echo—a romantic reminder of better times, which prompts Helen to sing out her heartbreak.

Helen's voice here is at its absolute peak, delivered with soaring grace and her signature whisper technique. There's such vulnerability and tenderness that you feel as if she's singing just for you. In 2009, during our conversation, I asked Helen about any connection between her breathy phrasing and Miles Davis's trumpet:

"Miles used to love my sound and always came to hear me sing. We were dear friends. He told me he loved my whisper sounds. That's a technique I used by getting up real close to the microphone. I'd sing almost in a whisper, which created a very intimate sound. I developed this by listening to my voice and trying different things with the mikes."

The beauty of Helen's voice rests in her soul and feeling. Unlike most singers of the era who harbored pop ambitions or were corralled into recording pop albums by producers, Helen always remained a pure jazz singer, and her voice was considered a jazz instrument by all of the legends who recorded with her. Parole e Musica captures Helen at a fragile time, singing her heart out on familiar songs just as her heart was breaking and mending.

JazzWax note: To read my five-part interview with Helen, go here. This will take you to Part 1. For additional parts, scroll up above the red date for the link.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Helen Merrill's Parole e Musica here. Past versions of this release bundled Cajati's narration with Helen's vocal on the same track. Here, they are separated, which gives you the option of listening all the way through or just jumping to the vocal. Personally, I never listen to this album without Cajati's voice tracks. The other albums recorded include tracks for the movie Smog (go here) and assorted projects that are now out of print.

JazzWax clip: Here's When Your Lover Has Gone, with Fernando Cajati narrating and Helen Merrill singing, with Nino Rosso on trumpet...

When Your Lover Has Gone

 Here's These Foolish Things—a vocal masterpiece. Dig Helen's breath control and phrasing...

These Foolish Things

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Helen Merrill: Dream of You

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

One of the finest jazz vocal albums of the 1950s is Helen Merrill's Dream of You. Recorded over the course of three days in July 1956 for EmArcy, the session paired Helen with arranger Gil Evans nearly a year before his first majestic session with trumpeter Miles Davis. Helen's Dream of You isn't a typical jazz-vocal recording of the period, where a singer belts out a set of American Songbook tunes backed by a bouncy band. Instead, what you have here is a true artistic duet—with Helen delivering deeply passionate readings of offbeat songs as Evans' jagged orchestrations lap at the lyrics and at times wash right over them.

What I love most about this recording is Helen's phrasing. To me, Helen sounds as though she's singing while lying in a grassy field, pulling out blades aimlessly as she tries to make sense of her life and feelings. In many cases in the '50s, big bands functioned as male counterparts to female vocals. But here, Evans' approach is decidedly feminine in its sophistication and sensitivity. His charts play the role of best friend, empathizing with Helen's wonderment, adding a flute affirmation here and violin shoulder to cry on there.

Evans truly is at the top of his arranging game here before he was brought to Columbia by producer George Avakian. Combined, Helen and Evans make you think and feel, and they don't take no for an answer. Dig Andy Razaf and Eubie Blake's You're Lucky to Me. Helen is at first girlishly shy before letting loose with adulation over her good fortune in love. Or the exotic quality of Elthea Peale, Harold Courlander and John Benson Brooks' Where Flamingos Fly. Or Duke Ellington and Mack David's haughty I'm Just a Lucky So and So.

What's special about this album are its impositions. This isn't pop material. Each song is an artistic commitment, and both Helen and Evans work hard to engage you with every note and lyric line. As with Billie Holiday, Helen's voice is an instrument offering a hidden message—where the breaths are taken and how forceful or tender the expression. [Photo by Herman Leonard/CTSImages.com]

The more you listen to Dream of You, the more you marvel at the way Helen holds back, opens up and interacts with Evans' clouds-across-the-moon orchestrations. There's a lot of emotion here and you can't help but be sympathetic and swayed.

When I interviewed Helen in early 2009, here's what she told me about this session:

JazzWax: How did you come to the attention of Gil Evans?
Helen Merrill: It goes back to being in music circles in New York then. I had known Gil for some time. He was the talk of the underground music world for years, you know. He was always The Man. People would meet at his apartment to talk about music and socialize. It was a very warm scene.

JW: But whose brilliant idea was it pairing your voice with his breakthrough orchestrations in 1956?
HM: Actually, it was mine. Gil was so gifted. I had remembered his beautiful music for Claude Thornhill, and I thought his music would be beautiful to sing against. When I mentioned Gil's name to [EmArcy producer] Bob Shad, I thought Bob was going to have a heart attack. At first Bob said, “No,” firmly.

JW: Why?
HM: Because Gil was so particular. He was famous for keeping orchestras overtime. Studio time and musicians were very expensive. Bob said “No” again, but I said, “You have to.” Eventually Bob gave in.

JW: How did you ever sing with those Gil Evans arrangements? 
HM: Don’t ask [laughs]. They were tough but so beautiful. A year later I tried to take the arrangements on the road but the performances were a disaster. The band sounded like a freight train instead of music. That's when I realized you can’t do those arrangements live. Only Gil could make them work.

JW: You don’t read music. How did you remember those complex melodies?
HM: Gil helped me on the session. I didn’t work with him beforehand. The session was like any other—like falling off a cliff and learning to fly. I came in and we did it.

JW: One run through and you had it down?
HM: Yeah, I’m afraid so. Down, I don’t know. But I had it. I had this ability to hear things once and remember everything in detail.

JW: Did Gil complete the arrangements on time?
HM: [Laughs] As I recall, he was a little late. He was a wonderful man.

JW: Your phrasing on that session sounds like the basis for Miles Davis' approach with Gil a year later in 1957 on Miles Ahead.
HM: I have no idea. Miles used to love my sound and always came to hear me sing. We were dear friends. He told me he loved my whisper sounds. That's a technique I used by getting up real close to the microphone. I'd sing almost in a whisper, which created a very intimate sound. I developed this by listening to my voice and trying different things with the mikes.

JW: Do you think Miles learned from your whisper technique?
HM: Miles learned from everyone. He was incredible. He took the best from everyone and threw away the rest. He was brilliant. One of the things he told me he loved about my voice was how I used space—both in music and between my voice and the mike.

JazzWax tracks: Helen Merrill's Dream of You (EmArcy) is available at iTunes or in JAZZwax. There's also a deluxe edition from Fresh Sound that features additional tracks in JAZZwax.

Helen and Evans came together again in August 1987 to reprise their earlier meeting, adding a few other songs as well, including Summertime. The album, Collaboration, can be found at iTunes or in Jazzwax.

If after you read this post you've fallen head over heels in love with Helen's voice, you will surely enjoy another one of my favorite albums by Helen: Parole e Musica (1960) which was recorded in Rome with the Piero Umiliani quartet and sextet. The concept was to have a voice speaking in Italian about lost love sandwiched in between Helen's vocals. The narration is charming, but the real thrill is Helen's vocals, which will knock you out. This recording is super rare but it is available on CD.

JazzWax interview: For my five-part interview with Helen Merrill in 2009, go Jazzwax.

JazzWax clip: Here's the title track of Dream of You, which perfectly demonstrates Helen's whisper technique...

Used with permission by Marc Myers



How good is Helen's Parole e Musica? Here's a clip of These Foolish Things. If you want to skip the Italian narration, slide the bar up to 1:43...

Helen Merrill On Piano Jazz

by Grant Jackson

Helen Merrill was born Jelena Ana Milcetic in 1930 to Croatian immigrant parents in New York City. She began singing in jazz clubs in the Bronx at the age of 14; after persuading her father, she hit the road with a band. In 1952, Merrill made her recording debut singing "A Cigarette For Company" with Earl Hines' band, and two short years later recorded her acclaimed eponymous album with legendary trumpet player Clifford Brown and bassist Oscar Pettiford. The album was produced and arranged by a 21-year-old Quincy Jones, and was one of Brown's last recordings before he was killed in a car accident just two years later.

Merrill managed to work with a second legendary arranger for her follow-up, 1956's Dream of You, produced and arranged by Gil Evans. With Merrill, Evans worked out several of the ideas for his hugely successful run with Miles Davis to come a few years later. Merrill toured extensively through Europe and Japan in the late 1950s and 1960s, recording with Chet Baker and Stan Getz, among others, and settling in Japan, where she developed a strong following. Later in her career, Merrill has recorded albums of bossa nova, show tunes, holiday music and Croatian folk tunes sung in Croatian.

On this Piano Jazz session from 1995, Helen Merrill is in fine form on tunes including "Dream of You," "Don't Explain," "Home on the Range," and her signature take on Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home to."

Originally recorded Jan. 6, 1995. Originally broadcast May 13, 1995.

Listen on: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130098712

Helen Merrill with Clifford Brown - What's New? (1954)
Personnel: Helen Merrill (vocal), Clifford Brown (trumpet), Danny Bank (flute, baritone sax), Barry Galbraith (guitar), Jimmy Jones (piano), Oscar Pettiford (bass), Bobby Donaldson (drums), Quincy Jones (arrange, conduct)
from the album: 'HELEN MERRILL'

"You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To"....

"You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" is a popular song written by Cole Porter, for the 1943 film Something to Shout About, where it was introduced by Janet Blair and Don Ameche. Dinah Shore had a major hit with the song at the time of its introduction. Diane Keaton performed the song in Woody Allen's movie Radio Days.

Notable recordings
Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill (with Clifford Brown) (1954)
Jim Hall - Concierto (1975)
Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster (1957)
Frank Sinatra - A Swingin' Affair! (1957)
Art Pepper - Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (1957)
Nina Simone - Nina Simone at Newport (1960)
Jo Stafford - Jo + Jazz (1960)
Ella Fitzgerald - Ella at Juan-Les-Pins (1964)
Mel Tormé - An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Tormé (1982)
Billy Eckstine-Helen Merrill - Billy Eckstine sing with Benny Carter - Special guest Helen Merrill (1986)
John Barrowman - John Barrowman Swings Cole Porter (2004)
Coco d'Or - Coco d'Or (2004)
Mika Nakashima - Eien no Uta (2007)
Eltjo Haselhoff - Delovely Guitar (2007)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You'd_Be_So_Nice_to_Come_Home_To
 

Helen Merrill sings "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" live, backed by husband Torrie Zito on piano, Ned Mahn on bass, and Terry Clarke on drums.

Recorded live by the University of Kentucky Faculty Jazz Quartet: Miles Osland-woodwinds, Raleigh Dailey-piano, Danny Cecil-bass, John Willmarth-drums. This group is now known as the OSLANDAILEY Jazztet.

H. Merrill, Clifford Brown -You'd be so nice to come home to