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Helen Merrill: ‘S All Wonderful

Listening session with renowned singer

Updated By Larry Appelbaum
Helen Merrill

Vocalist Helen Merrill has always surrounded herself with top musicians, from her first jazz recordings with Quincy Jones and Clifford Brown to her modernist sessions with Gil Evans and Steve Lacy. Merrill, 80, was one of the first American jazz stars to live and teach in Japan in the 1960s, and she made time for this listening session in New York on the eve of another trip to Tokyo. Three of Merrill’s finest recordings have been reissued on the Mosaic label as Casa Forte and The Helen Merrill-Dick Katz Sessions.

1. Sarah Vaughan

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Before & After with Dave Douglas

In the cool, blustery summer weather that is typical of Finland’s Satakunta province, Dave Douglas’ quintet-Douglas on trumpet, tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon, pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Linda Oh and drummer Rudy Royston, with vocalist Heather Masse-played a well-received set at the 2013 Pori Jazz festival in July. The music alternated between a loose-limbed intensity and measured melancholy-the latter in particular on the church melodies taken from Douglas’ 2012 album Be Still (Greenleaf). One of those happy, unplanned musical connections took place when the group performed the title track, sparking a rousing response from the outdoor crowd.

“I got so many questions from people here in Finland about why I played it,” Douglas, 50, explained after the set. “When my mother was very ill she gave me a list of hymns that she wanted me to play at her memorial service, and one of them was ‘Be Still, My Soul.’ It was one of her favorites, played in Protestant churches with English lyrics and a melody composed by [Finnish composer] Jean Sibelius. I don’t think she knew the melody is also called ‘Finlandia,’ but we began to play it and I quickly learned that it’s the national anthem here, more or less. It was a real honor to play it in Finland.”

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