Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the
pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead
wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep
with the record.
— Paul, Vinyl Curator
Helen Merrill
Merrill at Midnight
1957 · EmArcy MG-36107 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | EmArcy |
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| Catalogue number | MG-36107 |
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| Year | 1957 |
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| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
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| Country | US |
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| Format | LP |
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| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
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| Genre | Jazz - Vocal |
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| Producer | Bob Shad |
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| Conductor | Hal Mooney |
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| Performer / Orchestra | Hal Mooney and His Orchestra |
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| Musicians | Helen Merrill (vocals), Hal Mooney (arranger/conductor), Milt Hinton (bass), Sol Gubin (drums), Billy Mure (guitar), Romeo Penque (oboe), Buddy Weed (piano, tracks A1-A3, A5, B2, B5), Marian McPartland (piano, tracks A4, B1, B3, B4) |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: MG-36107A-2 M1 A MSII
Side B: MG-36107B-2 M1 A MSII
Condition
- Cover
- EX/VG+ CELLOTAPE RESIDUE BUT NO SPLITS
- Vinyl
- NM DEEP GROOVE/NM DEEP GROOVE
Variant chronology
1957 - US EmArcy blue "sketching man" label, deep groove, Mercury Record Corp. address, mono <- this copy
1972-1980s - EmArcy/Mercury reissue, trident-logo Mercury label
2000s - Japanese/European/CD reissue
This Pressing
Original 1957 mono first pressing - EmArcy blue "sketching man" label, deep groove both sides, Mercury Record Corp. rim text.
The Album
Recorded in New York on February 21 and 27, 1957, Merrill at Midnight was Helen Merrill's fourth album for EmArcy, arriving after her celebrated 1954 self-titled date with Clifford Brown had established her as a distinctive new voice in jazz singing. Working with arranger-conductor Hal Mooney's orchestra, with the piano chair shared between Buddy Weed and a young Marian McPartland, Merrill assembled a moody late-night program of standards and lesser-known gems, most memorably her much-admired reading of "Lazy Afternoon," later covered by artists from Nat King Cole to Shirley Horn. Merrill's hushed, behind-the-beat phrasing and unusually intimate microphone presence set her apart from the more forceful jazz belters of her era, favoring lyric nuance and mood over vocal display. The album reinforced her standing, alongside contemporaries like June Christy and Chris Connor, as one of the era's premier torch-toned jazz vocalists, and later critics such as AllMusic's Bruce Eder singled it out as a genuine
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Soft As Spring
2. Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair
3. Lazy Afternoon
4. The Things We Did Last Summer
5. After You
Side 2
1. If You Go
2. If I Forget You
3. If Love Were All
4. Easy Come Easy Go
5. I'll Be Around
The Label
This copy carries the classic royal-blue EmArcy label with the silver "sketching artist and easel" logo, the EmArcy oval script logo, a stylized two-figure conductor icon, deep groove visible on both sides, and "MERCURY RECORD CORPORATION MADE IN U.S.A." rim text with "LONG PLAYING HIGH FIDELITY" arced around the perimeter. This is the original EmArcy label design used from the label's 1954 launch through the late 1950s, before Mercury folded EmArcy into its trident-logo house design in the early 1960s. The design, the deep groove, and the mono-only "LONG PLAYING HIGH FIDELITY" text together place this squarely as an original first-issue-era pressing (Discogs dates the first release to 1957-58) rather than a later Mercury/EmArcy reissue.
Fidelity
This is an original 1957 mono analog cut, mastered directly from the February 1957 New York session tapes for EmArcy/Mercury; no separate stereo mix of this title is known to exist. Collectors on forums such as Steve Hoffman generally rate EmArcy's late-1950s New York vocal jazz mono pressings as warm and well-balanced, with Mercury's own pressing plant delivering solid, if not audiophile-tier, quiet vinyl. There has been no notable audiophile reissue (no Analogue Productions, Mobile Fidelity, or similar treatment) of this title, so this original mono pressing represents the top of the practical fidelity hierarchy, ahead of the 1970s-80s Mercury reissues and the 1992/2000s CD transfers.
Notes
This is the original 1957 EmArcy first pressing (mono only; the album was never issued in true stereo). Both sides show the blue "sketching man" EmArcy label with deep groove, matching the earliest EmArcy design used before the early-1960s Mercury trident restyle. The collector's transcribed runouts (MG-36107A-2 M1 A MSII / MG-36107B-2 M1 A MSII) are close to, but not an exact character-for-character match with, the stamper strings documented on the Discogs variant located (A: "MG-36107A-2 M1 MS II C"; B: "MG-36107B-2 M MS II A"), suggesting this copy may carry a different stamper/mother pairing within the same first-pressing run rather than a different label era. Deep groove and label design remain the decisive era markers regardless of the exact stamper suffix.
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