THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 19, 1994 TAG: 9412170037
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
HELEN MERRILL remembers Clifford Brown.
``It was Quincy Jones who put us together,'' says the singer, who made her first LP with the legendary trumpeter 40 years ago this month. ``I chose the rhythm section, and he chose Clifford.''
Highly praised by arranger Jones, Brown turned out to be even ``more than Quincy had said.'' Over two days just before Christmas, they cut seven sides with a small group that also included Milt Hinton on bass.
The album, ``Helen Merrill,'' remains in print on CD - the 25-year-old singer's soft, plaintive tones preserved forever alongside the horn man's piercingly lyrical lines.
Unfortunately, the album marked the pair's first and last studio meeting. Merrill would go on to become one of the most acclaimed singers in jazz. But Brown was killed at 25 in a car accident following a gig in June 1956.
``When he died, it was a reminder that our lives are finite,'' Merrill says by phone from her New York home. ``We had a gang. There was an unspoken love of talented people who supported one another. The feeling made us all one in some strange way, and when Clifford died, it showed that anything can happen to anyone.''
Merrill considered a memorial album, but found the possibility too painful. Finally, she was invited by Brown cohort Max Roach to participate in a 1991 tribute concert. The seed for the new ``Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown'' (Verve) was planted.
The disc features three re-recordings of songs from the 1954 original - ``Born to Be Blue,'' ``Don't Explain'' and ``You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To'' - performed with an all-star trumpet section. Wallace Roney and Roy Hargrove play transcriptions of Brown's solos.
Merrill describes the mood during the ``Brownie'' sessions as ``very emotional. I was highly nervous and excited at the same time. There were a lot of people in the studio, which I had to ignore.''
The reaction of the younger players was ``one of amazement,'' she says, adding that her goal was simply for Brown not to be forgotten. Merrill sits out five cuts on ``Brownie.'' Among them are Tom Harrell's solo flugelhorn rendition of Brown's ``Joy Spring'' and a Roney-led quartet version of ``Daahoud.''
Merrill wrote lyrics for his ballad ``Your Eyes.'' Merrill says Brown's widow, LaRue, called after hearing the song. ``She said, `You dog! I put the record on and I couldn't get past the first cut. I was weeping.' I was quite happy that she felt that way. She thanked me.''
``Brownie'' isn't the first time Merrill has looked back. One of Gil Evans' last recordings before his 1988 death was ``Collaboration,'' a remake of the pair's ``Dream of You'' album some 30 years after its release.
But more often, she's taken the less-trodden path. Her daring concepts, such the 1989 ``Duets'' with bassist Ron Carter, earned her a cult audience in America, a higher profile in Japan and France (``Thank God for the French'').
``I don't think of it consciously - something better, something new. A lot of people, after their initial success, are frightened. A lot of instrumentalists have taken time off, then come back with a different sound.'' Merrill has simply continued working. Her January shows at New York's Blue Note will include some of the ``Brownie'' material performed with three trumpets.
Since her early sides, has her style changed at all?
``It has changed, yes. I've become more forceful in my approach. I used to be more enclosed, coming from the inside out. Now I've opened up. I'm not as shy. I think in terms of sounds. I don't have what a lot of people would call a `legitimate' voice.
``It's not about how beautifully you hit your notes, especially not in jazz and pop. There are no rules. Billie Holiday didn't have a `perfect' voice. But she was having a conversation with you.
``I hear many, many young, vocally equipped singers, with good instruments. I can't always tell them apart. I think Natalie Cole is a wonderful singer. Am I sure it's Natalie Cole when I hear her on the radio? No.''
Merrill says of her own work, ``There's a lot of thought in it.'' And because of budget limitations, ``Sometimes there's more thought than rehearsal. I think it works better if people can communicate. That's what this music is about.''
Or, as Merrill opined when discussing her occasional lyric writing, ``I think all singers eventually become poets.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Helen Merrill...
by CNB