Falling In Love With Love and Helen Merrill

“Falling In Love With Love” and Helen Merrill (113) 

“Falling in Love with Love,” by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart from the Broadway musical The Boys from Syracuse, is a waltz in B♭ major built on a clear 64–bar A–A’ form. Its melody is strikingly simple—largely stepwise and sustained—yet its arching ascents and descents give it expressive shape. The harmony relies on logical ii–V progressions and brief modulations, making it especially inviting for jazz improvisers. Beneath its graceful surface, Hart’s lyric delivers a gently ironic warning about romantic idealism. A defining jazz interpretation appears on Helen Merrill’s debut album with Clifford Brown and arrangements by Quincy Jones, Merrill’s cool, intimate phrasing and emotional restraint turn the song into a refined, modern jazz statement of understated poignancy. (113) 

Helen Merrill

Kenny Dorham 

The Jazz Real Book Playlist Vol. 2