Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill Sings Irving Berlin-CDs-Palm Beach Bookery
Helen Merrill

Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill Sings Irving Berlin

Regular price $23.98

Helen Merrill Sings Irving Berlin

By Helen Merrill

Very + Good Condition. (Includes, Cd, Original artwork inserts and jewel case.)

This is one of the composer albums that Merrill recorded in the 80's along with the Rodgers/Hammerstein, the Porter, and the Kern albums. It appears to me that this is the weakest of all. The weakness, however, is not in her singing, but it is in the very mediocre jazz combo arrangements. The booklet does not offer the personnel of this album and even the famous Tom Lord's discography does not state only that the orchestra is the London Symphony Orchestra. It is thus unclear how provided the mediocre combo arrangements ("Let's Face The Music And Dance" and "There's No Business Like Show Business") and who were the soloists. In general the symphony orchestra arrangements are fine. In particular, the opening track "How Deep Is The Ocean" is beautifully sung and arranged and contains a nice tenor saxophone solo. The ensuing "They Say It's Wonderful", famous for Johnny Hartman's rendition with Coltrane, is wonderful too. Here Merrill sings rarely sung the verse. The third track "White Christmas" is again accompanied by an orchestra and her singing shines the world. If I skipped the two combo tunes and the last track, a very short afterthought, in which she sings her gratitude toward Irving Berlin, which I guess is a kind of "The Theme" she would sing at the end of her stage in a gig but nonetheless I think is out of place and can be easily disposed of, the album is enjoyable. As mentioned earlier, the first three tracks are excellent. So is Track 6 "Easter Parade". I was listening to this album on Eastern and her singing brought me a joy. To sum, if do not own other composer albums yet, you should get the others first before getting this album.

Track Listing

 

1   How Deep Is the Ocean?   4:11

 2   They Say It's Wonderful   3:21

 3   White Christmas   4:13

 4   Let's Face the Music and Dance   3:05

 5   Always/When I Lost You   5:23

 6   Easter Parade   3:11

 7   I Used to Be Color Blind   2:43

 8   Blue Skies   4:13

 9   There's No Business Like Show Business   2:28

 10 Music Makers   1:30

 


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