ヘレン・メリル Helen Merrill
1929年6月21日ニューヨーク生まれ。本名はイェレーナ・アナ・ミルツェティッツ(両親が旧ユーゴスラヴィアからの移民)。ニューヨークで若き日のマ
イルス・デイヴィス、バド・パウエル、J.J.ジョンソンらと共演しながらジャズを学び、'54年にエマーシー・レコードと契約。クリフォード・ブラウン
と共演した『ヘレン・メリル・ウィズ・クリフォード・ブラウン』などがヒットし、アニタ・オデイらに続く白人女性ジャズ・シンガーとしての評価を確立。同
アルバム中の「帰ってくれれば嬉しいわ」は、日本で爆発的にヒットしてからたびたびコマーシャル・ソングに使用され、息の長い人気を誇っている。'60年
代の来日時には、渡辺 貞夫クインテットとの『ボサノバ・イン・トーキョー』、猪俣
猛との『シングス・スクリーン・フェイバリッツ』(共にビクターエンタテインメント)などを録音。東京に起居するなどして日本の人気を決定的なものにし
た。その後'70年代中盤まで第一線を離れるが、'77年に“モダン・ジャズ・カルテット”のピアニスト、ジョン・ルイスと来日公演を行ない現役復帰。自
身のアルバム制作に打ち込むのに並行して、プロデュースにも乗り出し、トミー・フラナガン、ローランド・ハナ、アル・ヘイグらのアルバムをプロデュース。
以来、ギル・エヴァンスとの『コラボレイション』、ロン・カーターとの『デュエッツ』など話題作のリリースを続け、日本公演もほぼ毎年のように実施。
'94年には、初めて過去を振り返ったアルバム『ブラウニー〜クリフォード・ブラウンに捧げる』を、ロイ・ハーグローヴやトム・ハレルらの後身と録音。ス
イングジャーナル社の「最優秀ボーカル賞」を受賞するなど、内外で高い評価を引き寄せた。それに続く『あなたと夜と音楽と』でも、菊地
雅章、チャーリー・ヘイデン、ポール・モチアンなど、普段は器楽の演奏が中心の名手を迎え、既成曲に新風を吹き込んだ。さらに最近作『ヘレン・メリル』で
も、自分史をひもとく創作で新境地を見せ、各方面からの賛辞を集めている。最新作は、チェコのオーケストラをバックにバラードを歌った『ライラック・ワイ
ン』(以上、注記のないアルバムはユニバーサル
ミュージックから)で、フランス語詞でも歌うほか、レディオヘッドのナンバーも取り上げた意欲作。レディオヘッドの「ユー」には、息子さんのアラン・メリ
ルがギターと歌で参加している。
オフィシャ
ル・サイト
Helen Merrill
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Helen Merrill (born Jelena Ana Milcetic on July 21, 1930 in New York
City) is an internationally known jazz vocalist.
Merrill's recording career has spanned six decades and she is popular
with fans of jazz in Japan and Italy (where she lived for many years)
as well as in her native United States. She has recorded and performed
with some of the most notable figures in the American jazz scene.
Youth and early career in the United
States
Merrill was born in 1930 to Croatian immigrant parents. She began
singing in jazz clubs in the Bronx at the age of fourteen. By the time
she was sixteen, Merrill had taken up music full time. In 1952, Merrill
made her recording debut when she was asked to sing "A Cigarette For
Company"(original music and lyrics written by Fred Roth of Los
Angeles), with the Earl Hines Band; the song was released on their
Xanadu album. Etta Jones made her debut on the same album.
At this time she was married to musician Aaron Sachs. They divorced in
1956.
As a result exposure she received from "A Cigarette for Company" and
two subsequent singles recorded for the Roost record label, Merrill was
signed by Mercury Records for their new Emarcy label.
In 1954, Merrill recorded her first (and to date most acclaimed) LP, an
eponymous record featuring legendary jazz trumpet player Clifford Brown
and bassist/cellist Oscar Pettiford, among others. It was to be one of
Brown's last recordings, as he was killed in a car accident just two
years later. The album was produced and arranged by Quincy Jones, who
was then just twenty-one years old. The success of Helen Merrill
prompted Mercury to sign her for an additional four-album contract.
Merrill's follow-up to Helen Merrill was the 1956 LP, Dream of You,
which was produced and arranged by bebop arranger and pianist Gil
Evans. Evans' work on Dream of You was his first in many years. His
arrangements on Merrill's laid the musical foundations for his in
following years with Miles Davis.
Success 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 and recorded an album there. Merrill returned to the US
in the 1960s, but moved to Japan in 1967 after touring there. Merrill
developed a following in Japan that remains strong to this day. In
addition to recording while in Japan, Merrill became involved in other
aspects of the music industry, producing albums for Trio Records and
hosting a show on a Tokyo radio station.
Late career
Merrill returned to the US in 1972 and has continued recording and
regular touring since then. Her later career has seen her experiment in
different music genres. She has recorded a bossa nova album, a
Christmas album and a record's worth of Rodgers and Hammerstein, among
many others.
Two albums from Merrill's later career have been tributes to past
musical partners. In 1987, Merrill and Gil Evans recorded fresh
arrangements of their classic Dream of You; the new recordings were
released under the title Collaboration and became the most critically
acclaimed of Merrill's albums in the 1980s. In 1995 she recorded
Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown as a tribute to the late trumpter.
One of Merrill's millennium released recordings draws from her Croatian
heritage as well as her American upbringing. Jelena Ana Milcetic, also
known as Helen Merrill (2000), combines jazz, pop and blues songs with
several traditional Croatian songs sung in Croatian.
Helen Merrill has been married three times, first to musician Aaron
Sachs, second time to UPI vice president Donald J Brydon, and third to
arranger-conductor Torrie Zito. She has one child, a son, Allan P
Sachs, also a singer, who is professionally known as Alan Merrill.
External links
Helen Merrill Official Website
Helen
Merrill at All Music Guide