Wednesday, August 31, 2011

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)

Johnny Hartman was apparently the only jazz vocalist whom Coltrane would work with. I'm still only in "baby's first wobbly steps" mode as far as experience with jazz ballads go, but I feel pretty safe in saying that this is amazing. Upon release it became an instant jazz classic, several tracks on the album being considered the definitive versions. Apparently the whole thing was recorded in one take in one afternoon excepting the track "You Are Too Beautiful" which required two takes due to a dropped drumstick by Elvin Jones.

Coltrane and Hartman

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