Helen Merrill Explained

Helen Merrill
Background:solo_singer
Birth Name:Jelena Ana Milcetic[1]
Birth Date:July 21, 1929
Birth Place:New York City, New York, U.S.
Genre:Jazz
Occupation:Vocalist
Years Active:1944–present
Label:EmArcy, Verve
Associated Acts:Clifford Brown, Gil Evans, Oscar Pettiford

Helen Merrill (born Jelena Ana Milcetic; July 21, 1929)[2] is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording Helen Merrill (with Clifford Brown on EmArcy), was an immediate success and associated her with the first generation of bebop jazz musicians.[3] After an active 1950s and 1960s, Merrill spent time recording and touring in Europe and Japan, falling into obscurity in the United States. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was recorded by EmArcy, JVC and Verve, and her performances in America revived her profile.[3] [4] Known for her emotional, sensual vocal performances, she continues to perform today, her career now in its sixth decade of concerts and recordings.

Early life and career

Jelena Ana Milcetic was born in New York to Croatian immigrant parents.[5] She began singing in jazz clubs in the Bronx in 1944 when she was fourteen.[6] She had three sisters and a brother who died before she was born. By the time she was sixteen, Merrill had taken up music full-time.[7] In 1952, Merrill made her recording debut when she was asked to sing "A Cigarette for Company" with Earl Hines; the song was released on the D'Oro label, created specifically to record Hines' band with Merrill. Etta Jones[8] was in Hines' band at the time and she, too, sang on this session, which was reissued on the Xanadu label in 1985.

Merrill was signed by Mercury Records to their EmArcy label. In 1954, Merrill recorded an eponymous LP, which featured trumpeter Clifford Brown[9] and bassist Oscar Pettiford.[10] The album was produced and arranged by Quincy Jones, who was twenty-one years old. The success of Helen Merrill prompted Mercury to sign her to an additional four-album contract.[11]

Merrill's follow-up was the 1956 LP Dream of You, which was arranged and conducted by Gil Evans. His arrangements for Merrill laid the foundation for his work with Miles Davis.[12]

Abroad

After recording sporadically through the late 1950s and 1960s, Merrill spent much of her time touring Europe, where she enjoyed more commercial success than she had in the United States. She settled for a time in Italy, recording an album there and doing concerts with jazz musicians Piero Umiliani,[13] Chet Baker,[14] Romano Mussolini,[15] and Stan Getz. In 1960, arranger and film composer Ennio Morricone worked with Merrill on an EP, Helen Merrill Sings Italian Songs, on the RCA Italiana label.

Parole e Musica: Words and Music was recorded in Italy with Umiliani's orchestra in the early 1960s while Merrill was living there. Merrill sings in English, but each song is preceded by an Italian translation of its lyrics, spoken by Fernando Caiati.[16]

She returned to the U.S. in the 1960s but moved to Japan in 1966, staying after touring there and marrying Donald J. Brydon,Tokyo-based Asia Bureau Chief of United Press International, in April 1967.[17] She developed a following in Japan that remains strong decades later. In addition to recording while in Japan, Merrill became involved in other aspects of the music industry, producing albums for Trio Records[18] and co-hosting a show on FEN (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service) with Bud Widom in Tokyo.[19]

Later career

Merrill returned to the U.S. in 1972. She recorded a bossa nova album, a Christmas album,[20] and a Rodgers and Hammerstein album.[21] In 1987, she and Gil Evans recorded fresh arrangements of Dream of You, which they released under the title Collaboration. It was the best received of Merrill's 1980s albums.[22]

In 1987, she co-produced Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter.[23] In 1995, she recorded .[24] In 2000, she released Jelena Ana Milcetic a.k.a. Helen Merrill, which drew on her Croatian heritage as well as her American upbringing. The album combines jazz, pop, and blues songs with traditional Croatian songs sung in Croatian.[5] She released the album Lilac Wine in 2003.

In his Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers, jazz critic Will Friedwald writes that Merrill "improved with age," and that her "albums of the nineties and aughts represent a dramatic improvement over her vintage work."[25]

Personal life

Merrill has been married three times, first to musician Aaron Sachs (1948–1956),[26] then to UPI vice president Donald J. Brydon (1967–1992),[17] and finally to arranger-conductor Torrie Zito, a marriage that lasted until his death in 2009.[27]

She is the mother of one child, Allan Preston Sachs, born in New York in 1951 from her first marriage to Aaron Sachs. He was later known professionally as Alan Merrill, and was a successful singer and songwriter who wrote and recorded the original (1975) version of the rock classic "I Love Rock N Roll" as lead vocalist of the British band Arrows. He died in 2020.[28] [29]

Discography

As leader/co-leader

As guest

With Billy Eckstine and Benny Carter

References

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bahl . Mathew . Helen Merrill: Jelena Ana Milcetic aka Helen Merrill . . 2000-09-01 . 2017-04-08.
  2. 'New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1910-1965' at ancestry.com, in which she is listed as 'Hellen A Milcetic'.
  3. Book: Cook . Richard . Morton . Brian . The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 2008 . . London . 993.
  4. News: Palmer . Robert . Helen Merrill, 50's Jazz Singer, Creates an 80's Stir . 30 May 2018 . The New York Times . 31 March 1986.
  5. Web site: Alex . Henderson . Aka Jelena Ana Milcetic - Helen Merrill. AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  6. Web site: Grant . Jackson . Helen Merrill On Piano Jazz . 2010-09-24 . . 2017-04-08.
  7. Web site: Yoshi . Kato . Helen Merrill Delivers Tribute To Croat Heritage . https://web.archive.org/web/20170316024901/http://www.mtv.com/news/1122622/helen-merrill-delivers-tribute-to-croat-heritage/ . dead . March 16, 2017 . MTV . 2000-07-31 . 2017-04-08.
  8. Web site: Joan . Merrill . NPR's Jazz Profiles: Etta Jones . NPR . 2017-04-08.
  9. Web site: Mortifoglio . Richard . Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill . AllMusic . 17 July 2018.
  10. Web site: Dream of You . J-DISC . Columbia University . 2017-04-08 . March 15, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170315174724/http://jdisc.columbia.edu/issue/dream-you-helen-merrill . dead .
  11. Web site: Scott . Yanow . Complete Helen Merrill on Mercury (1954–1958) . AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  12. Web site: Stephen . Cook . Dream of You. AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  13. Web site: Thom . Jurek . Parole e Musica . AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  14. Web site: Thom . Jurek . Smog (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) . AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  15. Web site: Helen Merrill - Parole e Musica . Jazz Record Center . 2017-04-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170315175849/http://jazzrecordcenter.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2683 . 2017-03-15 . dead .
  16. Web site: Helen Merrill – Parola e musica – 1960 . Music Club . 2010-12-05 . 2012-09-19 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131203012319/http://finnr.org/musicclub/helen-merrill-parola-e-musica-1960 . 2013-12-03 .
  17. Web site: Former UPI news executive Don Brydon dies . UPI.com . 2003-01-16 . 2017-04-08.
  18. Web site: Scott . Yanow . Helen Merrill Presents Al Haig Plays the Music of Jerome Kern . AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  19. Web site: Whetston . Thomas . Small World - 1965 . AFRTS Archive . 2010-05-13 . 2017-04-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190101100459/https://afrtsarchive.blogspot.com/2010/05/small-world-1965.html . January 1, 2019.
  20. Web site: Scott . Yanow . Christmas Song Book . AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  21. Web site: William . Ruhlmann . Helen Merrill Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein . . 2017-04-08.
  22. Web site: Scott . Yanow . Collaboration . AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  23. Web site: Scott . Yanow . Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter . AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  24. Web site: Scott . Yanow . Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown . AllMusic . 2017-04-08.
  25. Will Friedwald, A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers (New York: Pantheon Books, 2010), page 331,
  26. Web site: Reedman Aaron Sachs R.I.P. The surefire command... . Mosaic Records Daily Jazz Gazette . 2017-04-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170316024933/http://mosaicrecords.tumblr.com/post/90096617238/reedman-aaron-sachs-rip-the-surefire-command . March 16, 2017.
  27. Web site: William . Grimesdec . Torrie Zito, Pianist and Jazz-Pop Arranger, Dies at 76 . . 2009-12-08 . 2017-04-08.
  28. Web site: I Love Rock And Roll by Joan Jett Songfacts . Songfacts.com . 2017-04-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170226214725/http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2422 . 2017-02-26 .
  29. Web site: 2020-04-05 . Alan Merrill obituary . 2023-01-06 . the Guardian . en.

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