HELEN MERRILL – Four Classic Albums (HELEN MERRILL / DREAM OF YOU / YOU’VE GOT A DATE WITH THE BLUES / THE NEARNESS OF YOU) (2CD) AVID

AVID jazz continues with its Classic Album series with a re-mastered 2CD release from Helen Merrill, complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details
“Helen Merrill”; “Dream Of You”; “You’ve Got A Date With The Blues” and “The Nearness Of You”
We got another live one! We music fans at AVID are delighted to present our tribute to one of the greats, perhaps slightly and unjustly unsung greats of the jazz vocal world. Miss Helen Merrill born 1930, just 89 years old and by all accounts, remarkably and wonderfully, still touring and performing. Miss Merrill, we are honoured to present four of your greatest albums for our listener’s pleasure. Noted for her emotional and sensual performances, Helen began her singing career at the tender age of 14 years in 1944 when she began singing in jazz clubs in the Bronx. It is surely a great testament to her wonderful talent that for her debut album “Helen Merrill” she was accompanied by none other than The Clifford Brown Sextet. And if that weren’t enough for her second outing “Dream Of You” she was joined as arranger and producer by the legendary Gil Evans who would soon be moving on to produce and arrange the legendary Miles Davis classic Kind Of Blue. Just a few other great names heard here on Helen’s fine quartet of albums include Quincy Jones, Barry Galbraith, Oscar Pettiford, Bill Evans, Jerome Richardson, Hank Jones, Art Farmer, Frank Wess, Kenny Dorham and Bobby Jaspar. The sound of Helen Merrill is admirably described in the liner notes of her fourth release “You’ve Got A Date With The Blues”….. “Every performance by Helen Merrill whether in an intimate East Side night club or in a recording studio is charged with a full heated surging emotional content that communicates immediately to every sensitive listener”.
Check other jazz vocal albums: Lambert, Hendricks & Ross (AMSC1320), Peggy Lee (AMSC1290), Morgana King (AMSC1021), Anita O’Day (AMSC963, AMSC1126, AMSC1129 and AMSC1136), Ann Richards (AMSC1239), Annie Ross (AMSC1015), Jeri Southern (AMSC1291) and Billie Holiday (AMSC989 and AMSC1329).

CD1
1-7: ‘Helen Merrill’
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. Yesterday’s
6. Born To Be Blue
7. S’Wonderful
8-19: ‘Dream Of You’
8. People Will Say We’re In Love
9. By Myself
10. Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home
11. I’ve Never Seen
12. He Was Too Good To Me
13. A New Town Is A Blue Town
14. You’re Lucky To Me
15. Where Flamingos Fly
16. Dream Of You
17. I’m A Fool To Want You
18. I’m Just A Lucky So And So
19. Troubled Waters

CD2
1-11: ‘You’ve Got A Date With The Blues ’
1. The Blues (From Black, Brown & Beige)
2. Am I Blue?
3. Blue Gardenia
4. You’ve Got A Date With The Blues
5. The Thrill Is Gone
6. (Ah The Apple Trees) When The World Was Young
7. Blues In My Heart
8. Vous M’Eblouissez (You Go To My Head)
9. Lorsque Tu M’Embrasses (Just Squeeze Me)
10. The Meaning Of The Blues
11. Signing Off
12-23: ‘The Nearness Of You’
12. Bye Bye Blackbird
13. When The Sun Comes Out
14. I Remember You
15. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
16. Dearly Beloved
17. Summertime
18. All Of You
19. I See Your Face Before Me
20. Let Me Love You
21. The Nearness Of You
22. This Time The Dream’s On Me
23. Just Imagine