Helen Merrill, Gil Evans - Collaboration (EmArcy, 1988)

This post is by Dan

Helen Merrill (vo); Gil Evans (arr); Steve Lacy (ss); Phil Bodner (fl, afl, bcl); Chris Hunter (fl); Wally Kane (bcl); Jerry Dodgion (fl, ss); Roger Rosenberg (bcl); Danny Bank  (fl); Lew Soloff (tr); Jimmy Knepper tb); Shunzo Ono (tr, flg); Dave Taylor (btb); Joe Beck g); Jay Berliner (g); Gil Goldstein (p, kybd); Harry Lookofsky (vn, tvn); Lamar Alsop (vn, vla,); Theodore Israel (vla); Harold Bolletta (vla); Jessy Levy (vco); Buster Williams (b); Mel Lewis (d); 

Recorded August 19, 25 and 26, 1987

In 1956, 25-year-old Helen Merrill recorded her second album, Dream of You, backed by the orchestral arrangements of Gil Evans. Dream of You followed the eponymous Helen Merrill and continued a series of outstanding albums on Emarcy. Her unique voice offered an alternative to the popular white female jazz singers of the time, including June Christy, Chris Connor, Anita O'Day, and others. These women were all "cool" long before that term entered the hipster vocabulary. 

Thirty years later, Merrill and Evans reunited to record Collaboration, covering almost all the same tunes that appeared on Dream of You. Although Dan Morgenstern claims in his sleeve note that Collaboration is not a re-creation of Dream of You, it comes close. The main differences have to do with maturity. Merrill's voice becomes that of a worldly woman, not an ingénue, and Evans' orchestrations gain grandeur and detail compared to the 1956 session, which was the first full album he had ever arranged. 

As befits Merrill's style, songs are carefully articulated and slowed down as much as possible without becoming dirges. She doesn't just sing the words; her voice is a member of the orchestra. 

Likewise, Evans is not just an arranger of a backing orchestra. His "voice" is distinctive, in large part by his choice of horns. Flutes and brass are frequently paired, and he favors soprano sax and bass clarinet as reeds rather than the traditional saxophones (alto, tenor, and baritone). This album excels largely because of his arrangements, which caress and support Merrill's haunting vocals. 

Collaboration is about collaboration between two veterans of jazz who revisited their first meeting 30 years earlier. Give this whole album a listen. It's one of the best jazz vocal albums of the 1980s.