Artist: Helen Merrill
Album: Aka Jelena Ana Milcetic
Genre: Vocal Jazz
Label: Decca
Released: 2000
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Tracklist:
- Kirje - Lado Folk Dance And Music Ensemble 03:15
- Imagining Kirk 02:15
- Long, Long Ago 04:35
- My Father 07:18
- La Paloma 05:57
- Tanac - Steve Lacy 01:41
- Wayfarin' Stranger 04:26
- I'll Take You Home Again Kath 05:30
- Lost In The Stars 05:19
- Sometimes I Feel Like a Mother 05:36
- Among My Souvenirs 03:47
- Nobody Knows 02:33
- Ti si rajski cvijet 01:01
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- Personnel:
- Helen Merrill - vocals
- Dominic Cortese - accordion
- Gil Goldstein - accordion, arranger, piano
- Torrie Zito - arranger, conductor, Fender Rhodes
- Jesse Levy - cello
- Frank Zuback - conductor
- George Mraz - double bass
- Jeff Mironov - guitar
- Gloria Agostini - harp
- Dennis Anderson - English horn, oboe
- Steve Kroon - percussion
- Roland Hanna - piano
- Steve Lacy - soprano saxophone
Helen Merrill has never been afraid to take chances, but the veteran jazz singer is especially ambitious on Jelena Ana Milcetic -- an autobiographical (or at least semi-autobiographical) work that draws on jazz, pop, and folk as well as traditional Croatian music. This is an extremely personal CD, and to fully appreciate it, you should know something about Merrill's background. Although she was born and raised in the U.S., her parents were Croatian immigrants -- Jelena Ana Milcetic is the Croatian name she was given at birth, but the jazz world has known her as Helen Merrill. The singer (who was 68 and 69 when this CD was recorded over a five-month period in 1999) learned a lot of about Croatian culture from her parents, and by calling this release Jelena Ana Milcetic, she is celebrating her heritage. But the album is also a celebration of Merrill's American heritage. By housing jazz, pop, folk, and Croatian elements under the same roof, the New Yorker acknowledges her parents' homeland as well as her U.S. upbringing. This isn't a release that caters to jazz purists -- although some of the material is very jazz-oriented (especially Merrill's interpretations of "Among My Souvenirs" and "Lost in the Stars"), some of it falls outside of jazz. But as unpredictable and eclectic as this album is, the CD never sounds confused or aimless. From Judy Collins' "My Father" to Michel Legrand's "Nobody Knows" to the traditional Croatian song "Ti Si Rajski Cvijet," everything fits together perfectly. Jelena Ana Milcetic is among Merrill's most impressive accomplishments.
Review by Alex Henderson