Search - Helen Merrill :: Jelena Ana Milcetic Aka Helen Merrill

Helen Merrill has been a jazz singer since the 1940s, with an elegantly expressive voice that can caress fresh depths from a lyric, but there's never been anything in her discography as striking as this invocation of roots and memory. In part, it's a musical journey into her Croatian ancestry, from the opening chorus singing the "Kyrie" passage from a Croatian cantata accompanied by zither and Terry Clarke's thunderous drums. But it's more than that, dwelling as well on notions of time, family, and displacement. There are songs like "Long, Long Ago" and "La Paloma" from the 19th century and Judy Collins's evocative "My Father." Folk songs and African American spirituals resonate with Kurt Weill's "Lost in the Stars," complementing one another's depths. Merrill's presence is so strong here that it's felt even in those moments when she's absent: "Tanac" is a brief instrumental with Steve Lacy matching his acidic soprano saxophone with two sopilas, Croatian oboes, played by musicians from Merrill's ancestral homeland, the island of Krk. Lacy, Clarke, and bassist George Mraz are frequent presences, but the accompaniments, most arranged by pianists Gil Goldstein and Torrie Zito, keep shifting as the need arises, ranging from a mixed ensemble with harp, cello, and oboe to Dominic Cortese's naked accordion for the concluding "Ti Si Rajski Cvijet." This is a richly imagined performance, one that grows with each hearing. --Stuart Broomer