- Audio CD (Mar 17 2008)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Polygram Records
- ASIN: B0000046ND
- Other Editions: Audio CD
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,628 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Track Listings
| 1. Don't Explain |
| 2. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To |
| 3. What's New |
| 4. Falling In Love With Love |
| 5. Yesterdays |
| 6. Born To Be Blue |
| 7. 'S Wonderful |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
Merrill's first album also starred trumpeter Clifford Brown on these sessions made 18 months before his June 1956 death. The 24-year-old singer's breathy, extremely musical style is already fully formed here; in fact, at least one of these cuts, "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," stands as a signature take for her. This disc is a great way to discover the too-often overlooked Merrill. --Rickey Wright
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
perfection,
By
This review is from: Helen Merrill (Audio CD)
Not really a jazzophile at all but Helem Merrill's breathy vocals do it for me in a big way. Basically, the tunes on here are all standard jazz numbers but she breathes (and I mean that in a very very smoky dark room sexy but approachable way) life into all of the songs.The band that backs her up never overwhelms her and are total pros. One of the all-time greatest vocal performances ever.
5.0 out of 5 stars
"You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To",
By A Customer
This review is from: Helen Merrill (Audio CD)
If there is a more affecting version of this wonderful Cole Porter song, I haven't heard it. Absolutely mesmerizing. The rest of this album is wonderful, too, but this is the standout song.
5.0 out of 5 stars
First-class,
By
This review is from: Helen Merrill (Audio CD)
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").
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
