Helen Merrill had that cool jazz

I think it is a simple equation: If it ain’t cool, leave the jazz alone. Helen Merrill had the cool.

Her presence and delivery was cool. Jazz, not left alone. Her voice could swing and be coy all at once. A coyness belying a fearless full-on take and feel for any song she sang. There was a sense of drama and the theatrical in her sound but it was not a cheap throwing away or over done imitation, hers was the real depth of a focused lens on the sentiment of the phrase and the lyric.

Her career was a surrounding by, and an immersion in, cool with solid time spent with giants like Gil Evans, Quincy Jones, John Katz, and Clifford Brown. Major forces and electrifying players in the timeline of the culture and the music. Merril’s output was broad and diverse and she was always as beautifully and steadily comfortable no matter what the style or genre. With all of this there was also a signature humility, and she was described as an anti-diva.

Cool, it is a simple equation.