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Johnny Hartman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Will Downing, Joanna Majoko and More
by Jua Howard
Greetings Music Family! It's time for another episode of the “First Instrument Jazz Show"! I've got new music from Dee Dee Bridgewater, Joanna Majoko and Sandra-Mae Lux, and more timeless music from Johnny Hartman, The Blackbyrds, Whitney James, Will Downing, Etta Jones, Darmon Meaderand many more. Come get lost in the music with me!Playlist Intro 00:00 The Blackbyrds “Walking in Rhythm" from Flying Start (Fantasy) 2:55 Terrence Blanchard feat. Jane Monheit “Too Young to Go Steady" from Let's ...
Continue ReadingHive 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 ...
Continue ReadingMellow 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 ...
Continue ReadingThe 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 ...
Continue ReadingJohnny 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 ...
Continue ReadingAlas, 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, ...
Continue ReadingJohnny 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 ...
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