Helen Merrill (b. 1930, NYC) debuted in a big way in 1954, recording her first LP with jazz heavyweights Clifford Brown and Oscar Pettiford, among others. By 1960, she’d relocated to Italy, where she recorded ‘Parole e Musica with two groups of Italian jazz musicians (pianist Piero Umiliani is common to both groups). Spoken Italian dialog precedes each number, mostly standards. The album remains one of the finest to grace her catalog that includes six decades worth of recordings.