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"Cheerin' Up the Universe,"
New CD by Trumpeter/Vocalist Bob Merrill,
Due for September 4 Release by
Accurate Records
Merrill's 4th CD as a Leader
Includes Support from John Medeski, Drew Zingg,
Nicki Parrott, George Schuller, Russ Gershon,
& Special Guests Harry Allen (Tenor Sax),
Roswell Rudd (Trombone),
Gabrielle Agachiko (Vocal)
August 19, 2015
 Trumpeter/vocalist Bob Merrill
has had an amazingly varied career in and around music -- mentored by
his late father-in-law Joe Bushkin, Jaki Byard, and Red Rodney; starting
and operating Hip Pocket Recording Studios in New York City; and
recording as a leader himself. Cheerin' Up the Universe, his new CD and fourth to date, is being released September 4 by Accurate Records, which has also reissued two of Merrill's earlier albums (Catch As Catch Can, Got a Bran' New Suit).
In the great tradition of trumpeter-singers, going back to
Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, and Louis Prima, Merrill
is both a carefree entertainer who wants to lift up his audience and a
serious artist who pays the deepest respect to jazz tradition with his
mastery of forms.
On previous albums, the New York-based artist mined the jazz
mainstream, sometimes with a stylish Rat Pack-era sound, sometimes with a
deeper blend of late swing and hard bop -- and always, says Accurate
Records honcho Russ Gershon, who has known Merrill
since they were classmates at Harvard, with real jazz and real blues
feeling. "He has a passionate attachment to the real thing," said
Gershon, leader of Either/Orchestra, who lends his saxophone skills to
the album.
Backed by such one-of-a-kind guest players as trombone great Roswell Rudd and keyboardist John Medeski, Merrill indulges himself-and anyone who has grown up loving the likes of James Taylor ("The Secret o' Life"), Steely Dan ("IGY [What a Beautiful World]"), Burt Bacharach ("I Say a Little Prayer"), and Stevie Wonder ("Overjoyed")
-- by applying his personal touch to a selection of pop hits that in
spirit and title promote happiness. For a little icing on the cake, he
covers Pharrell's inescapable "Happy," with the lyrical bassist Nicki Parrott
harmonizing and a touch of Lee Morgan's infectious "Sidewinder"
informing the bridge. The title track, a fetching Merrill original, aims
to cheer up the universe "one star at a time."
L. to r.: Bob Merrill, Russ Gershon, Roswell Rudd.
Merrill has deep history with the musicians on the date: guitarist Drew Zingg was a grade school classmate; his friendship with drummer George Schuller dates back to boarding school; keyboardist/arranger John Van Eps first connected with Merrill at the New England Conservatory.
John Medeski, who contributes to four tracks
on piano and two on organ, met Merrill in 1989, when the keyboardist
was hired, at Gershon's suggestion, for a gig in Cambridge. "Russ also
suggested some bass players who were all booked," Merrill explains. "But
my last call was to Chris Wood, who was free. It was on that gig that
Medeski met Wood, and they later added Martin -- the rest is history."
 Bob Merrill
has had similar encounters with kismet throughout his life, which began
in 1958 in Manhattan. He grew up in the Upper East Side building where Benny Goodman lived, and once he'd heard Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing," young Bob was hooked on jazz. After his head was turned by Doc Severinsen's trumpet playing during a Tonight Show taping his father took him to, Bob devoted himself to the horn. He took lessons and played gigs with local trumpet guru Felix Sangenito and also studied with William Vacchiano, first trumpet chair at the New York Philharmonic.
While attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, he jammed with saxophonist Thomas Chapin.
Accepted at Harvard, Merrill deferred for a year to study jazz at the
New England Conservatory of Music, where his teachers included George Russell and Jaki Byard. He formed a group with drummer George Schuller, son of the late Gunther Schuller, then president of NEC.
Merrill began singing, he says, when he played wedding gigs
and discovered that attractive women on the dance floor turned to hear
what someone on stage was singing more than they ever turned to hear
what someone was playing. His relaxed vocals add an important dimension
to his art. He modestly says that his understated style is a concession
to his vocal limitations. But with his Mel Tormé-influenced smoothness
and Kurt Elling-like articulation, he is an appealing and distinctive
interpreter of the Great American Songbook.
After marrying Christina Bushkin in 1991, Merrill coaxed her father, the fabled swing pianist Joe Bushkin,
out of retirement. One of their first gigs was a memorable run at
Tavern on the Green in Central Park with a group featuring bass immortal
Milt Hinton, who credited Bushkin for bringing him to
New York in the early '50s for an extended run at the Embers with Jo
Jones. Merrill produced CD reissues of Joe Bushkin's classic LPs, and
they played the jazz festival circuit until the pianist's death in 2004.
Web Site: bobmerrill.net
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 Media Contact:
Terri Hinte
hudba@sbcglobal.net 510/234-8781  |
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
USA: "Cheerin' Up the Universe," New CD by Trumpeter/Vocalist Bob Merrill, Due Sept. 4 from Accurate Records
