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Johnny Hartman
John Maurice Hartman was a critically acclaimed baritone jazz singer who specialized in ballads. Born in Louisiana but raised in Chicago, he began singing and playing the piano by age eight. In 1940, Hartman graduated from DuSable High School where he studied music under Walter Dyett before receiving a scholarship to Chicago Musical College. He sang as an Army private during WWII but his first professional work came in September 1946 when he won a singing contest awarding him a one-week engagement with Earl Hines at Chicago's El Grotto nightclub. Seeing potential in the singer, Hines hired him for the next year. Although Hartman’s first recordings were with Marl Young in February 1947, it was the collaboration with Hines that provided notable exposure. After the Hines orchestra broke up, Dizzy Gillespie invited Hartman to join his big band in 1948 during an eight-week tour in California. Dropped from the band about one year later, Hartman worked for a short time with pianist Erroll Garner before going solo by early 1950.
After recording several pop-oriented singles for Apollo Records and RCA Victor, Hartman finally released his first solo album, Songs from the Heart, with a jazz quintet for Bethlehem Records in 1955. After releasing two more albums and a handful of singles with small labels, Hartman got a career-altering offer in 1963 to record with John Coltrane. The saxophonist likely remembered Hartman from a bill they shared at the Apollo Theater in 1950 and later said, “I just felt something about him, I don’t know what it was. I like his sound, I thought there was something there I had to hear so I looked him up and did that album.” Featuring all ballads, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman is considered a classic. This led to recording four more albums with Impulse and parent label ABC-Paramount, all produced by Bob Thiele.
With the 1970s being difficult for singers clinging to the pre-rock Great American Songbook, Hartman turned to playing cocktail lounges in New York and Chicago. Recording again with small labels like Perception and Musicor, Hartman produced music of mixed quality as he attempted to be viewed as an all-around vocalist. Referring to his approach for interpreting a song, Hartman said, “Well, to me a lyric is a story, almost like talking, telling somebody a story, try to make it believable.” Returning to the jazz combo format of his earlier albums, Hartman recorded Once in Every Life for Bee Hive, earning him a 1981 Grammy nomination for Best Male Jazz Vocalist. This was soon followed by his last album of newly recorded material titled This One’s for Tedi as a tribute to his wife.
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Hive Finds
by Patrick Burnette
In the late seventies and early eighties, Susan and Jim Neumann helped keep the be-bop flame burning by starting the boutique Beehive Records label. They featured middle-aged boppers left behind by fusion frenzy who just wanted to record some solid blowing dates—and one semi-forgotten vocalist who made his final great recording for the label... and captured Clint Eastwood's heart doing so. For pop matters, things take a swerve for the jazzy when Mike discusses a live Kurt Elling show in ...
read moreMellow Moods
by AAJ Staff
Jazz in all its rich variety encompasses all the colors from deepest blue to piercing red. For this particular section of Building a Jazz Library, we've selected a handful of recordings which you might color green: green for go, green for growth. If you're a jazz neophyte, you'll find an opportunity here in these recordings to wrap your ears around some mellow music. Find yourself a comfortable chair, get your favorite drink handy, and just sit back and ...
read moreThe Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story
by Gregg Akkerman
[Editor's Note: The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story (Scarecrow Press, 2012), by Gregg Akkerman, is the long-overdue biography of a singer who, amongst other things, achieved considerable fame for his classic collaboration with intrepid saxophonist John Coltrane, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (Impulse!, 1963).] Several years ago I was riding in a car to a jazz gig with a few cohorts when “Lush Life" from the iconic John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman album began playing on ...
read moreJohnny Hartman: Johnny Hartman The Complete Gus Wildi Recordings
by Marcia Hillman
Johnny Hartman recorded these 25 songs, all standards and each a special performance, for Gus Wildi's Bethlehem Records during 1955 and 1956. On the first twelve tracks (released on From The Heart), Hartman is backed by trumpeter Howard McGhee, pianist Ralph Sharon, bassist Jay Cave and drummer Christy Febbo. Hartman approaches each song in a straightforward way, using his voice to caress the melodies. McGhee and Sharon contribute tasty fills on all tracks, and McGhee delivers a wonderful solo on ...
read moreAlas, Poor Ghost: Echoes of Johnny Hartman
by Alexander M. Stern
At the time of his death in 1983, Johnny Hartman was already a ghost. A supreme interpreter of ballads with a lush, velvety baritone, Hartman combated indifference for nearly forty years, his one moment in the sun a 1963 collaboration with saxophonist John Coltrane's classic quartet. That album, the superb John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, is Hartman's definitive statement and remains, along with a glass of white wine and a crackling fire, an essential aid to seduction. For all that, ...
read moreJohnny Hartman: The Perception Years
by AAJ Staff
On this two-fer disc of early '70s albums Today and I’ve Been There, the voice that went almost note for note with John Coltrane does what he does best and more (or less). Though chock full of Mercer-ized timeless ballads, this oft-dynamic duo also offers more dated and perhaps less well chosen selections. The albums range from Jim Webb’s “Didn’t We" and a chiming take on Johnny Mercer’s (no relation) “Summer Wind," to a pair by Kris Kristofferson and a ...
read moreJohnny Hartman: The Voice That Is!
by AAJ Staff
The lush baritone voice of Johnny Hartman enriched many big bands in the Forties and Fifties including Dizzy Gillespie's and Erol Garner's. But in the sixties he recorded many fine albums as leader and with all-star small groups. Although not as popular as some of his other releases, “The Voice That Is" is an exceptional showcase of his beautiful talent.Hartman is clearly the central figure in this recording. He doesn't share the limelight with many soloists as on ...
read moreWest Coast Release Party For "The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story"
Source:
Gregg Akkerman
Author Gregg Akkerman will be launching the release of his new book, The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story (Scarecrow Press, 2012), on the West Coast at a reading event in San Diego, California. The release marks the long-overdue biography of a vocalist best known for his eponymously titled album with the intrepid saxophonist John Coltrane (Impulse! 1963) and as the singing voice behind several scenes in Clint Eastwood's The Bridges of Madison County. Jazz singer Carol Sloane was one ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Johnny Hartman
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Johnny Hartman's birthday today!
John Maurice Hartman (b. 7/3/23, d. 9/15/83) was a critically acclaimed baritone jazz singer who specialized in ballads. Born in Louisiana but raised in Chicago, he began singing and playing the piano by age eight. In 1940, Hartman graduated from DuSable High School where he studied music under Walter Dyett before receiving a scholarship to Chicago Musical College... Read more.
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Release Party For The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story
Source:
All About Jazz
Author Gregg Akkerman will be launching the release of his new book, The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story (Scarecrow Press, 2012) at a combined reading/live performance in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The release marks the long-overdue biography of a vocalist best known for his eponymously titled album with intrepid saxophonist John Coltrane (Impulse!, 1963) and as the singing voice behind several scenes in Clint Eastwood's The Bridges of Madison County. “I started out just writing a book on a baritone ...
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Johnny Hartman Feature Ahead Of New Book
Source:
Gregg Akkerman
Radio host Bill McCann will air a Johnny Hartman feature on his June 23 “Saturday Morning Edition of Jazz" show in acknowledgement of the artist's 89th birthday and an upcoming book. Heard on WCDB 90.9FM in Albany, New York, McCann will include guests Tom Pierce and Gregg Akkerman. Piece will contribute his recollections of seeing Hartman perform before the jazz singer died in 1983 from cancer. Akkerman will feature anecdotes from his upcoming book The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman ...
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A Tribute to the Life & Music of Johnny Hartman at the Bronx Library Center
Source:
Press Dept
The Bronx Library Center presents a musical tribute to jazz crooner Johnny Hartman performed by Cody Childs, NYC jazz/pop vocalist on Saturday August 23rd, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. This tribute includes biographical notes on the singer's life as well as a performance of his signature songs such as “They Say It's Wonderful", “Let Me Love You", “Charade". “Sleepin' Bee", “The More I See You", “Don't Call it Love", “Lush Life", “In the Wee Small Hours", “I Could Write a Book", ...
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Les Paul (Mon) Mingus Big Band (Tues) Vince Giordano (Wed) July 27-30 Kevin Mahogany In Celebration Of Johnny Hartman His Life, His Music at The Iridium Jazz Club
Source:
All About Jazz
IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) NEW YORK, NY 10023 RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121 NEW SET TIMES BEGINNING JUNE 1, 2006 8:30 & 10:30PM, Fri. & Sat. 3rd Sets AT MIDNIGHT Note: Set Times for Les Paul Remain at 8 & 10PM EVERY MONDAY LES PAUL AND HIS TRIO JOHN COLIANNI - PIANO, LOU PALLO - GUITAR, NICKI ...
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Johnny Hartman
Instrument: Vocals
Born: July 3, 1923
Died: September 15, 1983
