Music pick: Johnny Hartman
Music pick: Johnny Hartman
Johnny Hartman (1923 - 1983) may be the best male jazz ballad singer ever, but unlike Sinatra, Bennett, Eckstein and Nat Cole, he never hit the big time and faded quickly from view upon his untimely death at 59. ...He toiled much of his 37 year career singing, to quote a phrase from the featured song, Lush Life, "in some small dives". But he recorded about a dozen albums which showcase his utterly unique voice, phrasing and feel for a jazz lyric. Clint Eastwood helped resuscitate Hartman's legacy 12 years after his death by placing 7 of his dreamy ballads in his 1995 flick "Bridges of Madison County". They form a perfect romantic mood for the Clintwood/Streep affair upon which the story revolves.
Lush Life, composed by Ellington alter ego Billy Strayhorn, is one of the most complex and difficult ballads to sing in the jazz canon. Hartman's version is tops of probably a thousand or more efforts. This tune is actually under the leadership of tenor sax great John Coltrane who spins a marvelous solo after Hartman's lush reading of Lush Life. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0izjSUqCcSQJohnny Hartman
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman Lush LifeSee More
Johnny Hartman (1923 - 1983) may be the best male jazz ballad singer ever, but unlike Sinatra, Bennett, Eckstein and Nat Cole, he never hit the big time and faded quickly from view upon his untimely death at 59. ...He toiled much of his 37 year career singing, to quote a phrase from the featured song, Lush Life, "in some small dives". But he recorded about a dozen albums which showcase his utterly unique voice, phrasing and feel for a jazz lyric. Clint Eastwood helped resuscitate Hartman's legacy 12 years after his death by placing 7 of his dreamy ballads in his 1995 flick "Bridges of Madison County". They form a perfect romantic mood for the Clintwood/Streep affair upon which the story revolves.
Lush Life, composed by Ellington alter ego Billy Strayhorn, is one of the most complex and difficult ballads to sing in the jazz canon. Hartman's version is tops of probably a thousand or more efforts. This tune is actually under the leadership of tenor sax great John Coltrane who spins a marvelous solo after Hartman's lush reading of Lush Life. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0izjSUqCcSQJohnny Hartman
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman Lush LifeSee More
posted by Walt Zlotow at 2:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home