I really dig her!
She may not have the most powerful soprano/contralto voice, but hers is a warm, charming, velvet-like voice. I enjoy when she whispers more than sings...
Favorite recordings?
Mine are, first of all, the Clifford Brown date (her voice melts perfectly with Clifford´s trumpet tone and Jimmy Jones or Hank Jones piano) and the Gil Evans date. I have these two in a single cd included in a Verve collection released in Spain a few years ago. Hearing her singing "Falling in love with love" or "Don´t explain" makes me shiver!
And then there are discs such as "The feeling is mutual" (Milestone, 1967), "Chasin´ the bird" (Inner city, 1979) or "A Shade of difference" (Milestone, 1968) that I got in some cheap Gitanes releases.
I like her even in such unusual recording as "Carrousel" (Finlandia Recordings, 1996) with Finish musicians and arrangements and some compositions by conductor Torrie Zito; or "Jelena Milcetic a.k.a. Helen Merrill" (Gitanes, 1999), a really strange disc indeed!