what Frank is listening to #196 – HELEN MERRILL – Rodgers & Hammerstein Album – (DRG) – 1982
The reason I like "commenting" on albums by acts I have already commented on is that I don't have to invest that much thought into the background and basics and can concentrate on the record. Yes I know I like lifting (and crediting) wikipedia or allmusic for background but even if I am familiar with the act I still have to faff around finding, editing or writing background so there is a point of reference for you who may be reading this.
So, with that in mind I have taken (grammatical errors and all) the below from my "what Frank is listening to #48 – HELEN MERRILL – Autumn Love – (Catalyst) – 1967"
I know of Helen Merrill and actually collect her records…. why I got hooked on her initially will become apparent. Over the course of buying her albums I learnt to love her music, and she is, arguably, the finest white jazz vocalist…. ever. Others may be more well known or recognizable ( Peggy Lee), others had more crossover success ( Anita O'Day, June Christy,Annie Ross, Helen O'Connell) but I would argue that Merrill out sings them all and is probably more influential. So much so that she ranks with the best of the black female vocalists.
I can hear people saying "well why haven't I heard of her". Well despite the fact she has put out over 40 LPs ( a lot of them scarce) she never crossed over into TV or film work (like Peggy Lee) and never had mainstream pop chart success like June Christy or Helen O'Connell. Her popularity was exclusively within the jazz scenes, and not the jazz scene of casual listeners sitting around New Farm smoking Gitannes and having a cappuccino …her fan base were the hard core jazz followers which though small in number were extremely purist, extremely loyal and feverishly culty.
Helen was born Jelena Ana Milcetic to Croatian immigrant parents in New York City, 1930. Now I know you are going to say well that's why you like her – cause she is part of the Croat Diaspora. True enough, that's how I first discovered her, but after I started listening to her I realised she was notch above the others.
Now it may be a big call to put her above Peggy Lee or rank her alongside some afro-American vocalists but the proof is in the music and in her "music mates".
At the age of 16 she was sitting in on jam sessions with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Bud Powell.
By the 50s she was recording with Earl Himes and was being sought out by afro-American musicians as well as the cream of the white jazz community to vocalise on their records – Clifford Brown, Gil Evans, Dick Katz, Oscar Pettiford, Quincy Jones etc. She went on to work with Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Charlie Mingus, Thad Jones, Charlie Byrd, Bill Evans.
Peggy Lee may have done one or two albums with jazz notables but otherwise her career tended to be one of singing pretty "clean" white jazz with popular white bands playing in the jazz idiom rather than singing with jazz bands themselves. That's not to say she didn't have many fine recordings but when it comes to jazz vocalists Merrill was more well regarded.
It is also, perhaps, a result of her jazz purisms that she hasn't been commercially successful in the US and England. The music is not easily accessible and definitely not for those looking for a swinging lounge vocalist. Merrill can swing but she also pushes the envelope in bringing all sorts of external influences to her jazz. She is well known for being a "experimenter" and has been defined probably best as a "jazz vocal modernist", certainly she has a tendency to totally deconstruct a song and look for its emotional heart and then rebuild the song from there. Sure it sounds wanky but that is what she does and that is what a good vocalist does. Its as hard to sing a song well as it is to write a good song...despite rock attempts to dumb down the vocalist. Of course a good vocalist also usually knows exactly what sound they want from all the instruments around them, or who they want, and Merrill has always shown taste in her choice of collaborators.
The older Merrill got the more she experimented – she even did an album of Beatles songs in 1970 ( not that that was that unusual as I think Ella Fitzgerald has already attacked the Beatles repertoire) and one of her recent albums ( she is still going and releasing records and touring) called "Jelena Ana Milcetic a.k.a. Helen Merrill" draws on jazz, pop, and folk as well as traditional Croatian music! Merrill isn't afraid to attack pop tunes, soundtrack songs, contemporary songs as well as all the usual, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, Gershwin, Sammy Cahn type stuff. Having said that she always takes the songs on her own terms and rarely interprets them in a familiar way.
I have spent more than a normal length of words in discussing Merrill's influence as I don't want to be attacked on the basis of some sort of cultural ancestral cronyism.
If that isn't enough then:
from allaboutjazz.com
"One of the most distinctive jazz singers ever"
"One of the most distinctive jazz singers ever"
allmusic.com
"A fine singer with a warm, expressive voice, Helen Merrill's infrequent recordings tend to be quite special with plenty of surprises and chance-taking".
"A fine singer with a warm, expressive voice, Helen Merrill's infrequent recordings tend to be quite special with plenty of surprises and chance-taking".
Otherwise you can do your own research.
OK, what do we have here?
An album of Rodgers and Hammerstein ("R&H") songs?
There is nothing wrong with that but as the linked review below suggests R&H in a jazz setting is not immediately appreciable. R&H are behind big Broadway successes that became bigger Hollywood musicals: Oklahoma!, Carousel, State Fair, South Pacific, The King and I, Flower Drum Song, The Sound of Music (all of which Sive likes). The music is of the big Broadway show type.
Sometimes it appears as if R&H are none to subtle but in fact there is a lot going on in their music. The songs themselves drive the themes of their Broadway musicals. Notice I didn't say their "plots" which are usually quite simple. R&H wrote good and great solid songs, that were laid into a simple plot, which explored (subtly) various issues and themes. For instance: "The King and I" (cultural identity, sex and gender roles), "Carousel" (domestic violence, redemption and death), "Oklahoma" (love and marriage), "South Pacific" (war, colonialism and race), "Flower Drum Song" (cultural identity and race), "The Sound of Music" ( family and war …think about it …a musical about the Nazi's annexing Austria!).
I think jazz musicians including vocalists like the honesty in the lyrics and the melodies which are meant to emotionally reflect the lyrics and themes. The lyric, because they were show songs, had to move the narrative along, so unsurprisingly they were quite complex but no one can deny the skill with which R&H wrote both perceptive lyrics and catchy melodies.
I love a Hollywood musical and the R&H adaptations are some of the best, despite the fact that on occasion Hollywood tones down the themes. Having said that, even with Hollywood's tinkering, the themes are not in your face but they are there. This is not unusual as most of the other great Broadway composers also explored various themes in their works. I say this because there is a tendency to dismiss these show type composers as creators of boy / girl musical comedy frivolities. You don't need in your face fringe or abstract musicals to get your point accross.
Generally, these type of songs usually work better within the whole. Of course there are many examples of individual Broadway songs that become individual pop songs in their own right ( "You'll Never Walk Alone", "The Impossible Dream", "Maria" for instance) but there are a lot which only work within the play. The way around that is to put that song into a group of similar similar songs in mood, regardless of who wrote them, or which show they came from. Sinatra did this on many a occasion.
The other thing to do and what jazz musicians do and Helen Merrill does here is to take a number of songs and change them to fit the mood she is trying to convey on the album. Here she has taken R&H songs, stripped them down, and found a common link, and then accentuated that. Here, thematically, music and singer are trying to evoke the emotions of love. Specifically, the dangers and tragedy in love, through the eyes of a woman who has seen love in all its forms. Merrill was 51 when this was recorded and this album is comparable to Sinatra's masterworks of middle aged romantic cynicism from the 1960s.
Co-produced by Helen Merrill with a host of 1980s NYC jazz musicians the album is certainly easy of the ear.
Tracks (best in italics)
- It Might as Well Be Spring – (State Fair) – it might as well be spring but winter is definitely not far away.
- Hello, Young Lovers – (The King and I) – not the version we all know …different altogether especially the solemn piano….
- I Have Dreamed – (The King and I) – haunting.
- People Will Say We're in Love – (Oklahoma) – Joyous but restrained unlike the Broadway version.
- Getting to Know You – (The King and I) – again, not the version we all know from the film. You cant fault Helen's technique though.
- My Lord and Master – (The King and I) – a misfire perhaps …it doesn't grab me.
- If I Loved You – (Carousel) – so low key its almost not there.
- My Favorite Things – (The Sound of Music) – this is a supreme performance…it's almost other worldly.
- The Sound of Music – (The Sound of Music) – very low key … and a little sad in mood. I like the bombastic Julie Andrews version but compare this to that to show how a vocalist can change the meaning in a lyric.
And…
Not a masterwork but good enough …..I'm keeping this.
Chart Action
US
England
nothing
Sounds
People Will Say We're in Love
film version:
My Favorite Things
attached
attached
The Sound of Music
attached
Others
Review
Bio
Website
Trivia
- Helen Merrill's son Alan Merrill co-wrote "I Love Rock n Roll" ( later covered by Joan Jett) whilst he was in the band "The Arrows".
- DRG Records licensed this album for American release from Japan's Victor Musical Industries
Other Comments
what Frank is listening to #48 – HELEN MERRILL – Autumn Love – (Catalyst) – 1967
(originally posted: 13/02/2011)
