Helen Merrill – The Nearness Of You

Japanese repress of Helen Merrill’s 1958 album The Nearness of You. Merrill’s albums have been distributed in Japan since the late 1960s. The liner notes by Don Gold start with Merrill talking about how the big names in Jazz “made it the hard way, too. They have a dignity that’s pleasing to me — something I’d like to see throughout Jazz.” This sets the tone for the rest of the blurb, enthusiastically framing Merrill as the underdog with a life full of setbacks ranging from her personality (shy) and her personal life (divorced mother) to even her fans (not vocal enough to propel her into the limelight).

For the artist’s name (in all lowercase), the typography uses Chisel — an inline version of Latin Condensed. The three widths of Latin were published by Stephenson Blake in 1883 and 1884, starting out with Latin Wide which is used for the name and title on the back cover (both in Title Case).