She started her career at the 845 club in the Bronx, still in high school. The promoter at the club was noted for his ability to spot young future stars.
Among these appearing with Helen at the time were Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Oscar Pettiford, and numerous others. The name on the marquee was Helen Milcetic, her name which she later changed to Merrill.
She entered the world of music just as the big band era was ending and the much more challenging field of working with small groups had begun.
During these formative years she worked with Earl Hines, Charles Mingus, Thad Jones, Clifford Brown, Gil Evans, Charlie Byrd, Marian McPartland, Al Haig, Jim Hall, Elvin Jones, Ron Carter, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, and literally hundreds of other musicians.
In 1954, Merrill recorded her first (and to date most acclaimed) LP, an eponymous record featuring legendary jazz trumpet player Clifford Brown and bassist/cellist Oscar Pettiford, among others.It was to be one of Brown's last recordings, as he was killed in a car accident just two years later.The album was produced and arranged by Quincy Jones, who was then just twenty-one years old.
After recording sporadically through the late 1950s and 1960s, Merrill spent much of her time touring Europe, where she enjoyed more commercial success than she had in the United States.
Merrill returned to the U.S. in the 1960s, but moved to Japan in 1967 after touring there.Merrill's career has spanned six decades and she has recorded more then 40 albums.
Falling In Love With Love ,is a smokily sublime vocal jazz version of a show tune from the Rodgers and Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse (1938), and is included in her self titled album released in 1954.
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