Search - Johnny Hartman :: Priceless Jazz

This Is the Voice of Jazz

D. Davis | Southern CA | 12/01/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While I've been a devoted fan of Joe Williams for years, and while I can tolerate Billy Eckstine, the voice of jazz belongs to none other than Johnny Hartman. This Priceless Jazz Collection should be on all top 100 lists of Jazz to Own. Some of the tracks here are taken from the historic early 60s recordings that Hartman did with Coltrane. "The More I See You" is my favorite song in this collection. Hartman's voice is masculine yet sensitive; it pulls you in and keeps you in. One might also wish to hear his swinging portrayal as Crown in the just re-released Porgy and Bess (with Mel Torme as Porgy & Frances Faye as Bess--available from Amazon.com). That brassy and swinging sensibility is here in these songs--even in the ballads, and the majority of these songs are ballads. Listen to Hartman's take on "In the Wee Small Hours," and you'll never want to hear Sinatra's version again. This is a must own!"

Absolutely beautiful!!!!!!

D. Davis | 02/05/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been recommending this CD to everyone!!! Listening to Johnny Hartman, I imagine myself in a small jazz club, with the beau of my dreams, sipping brandy. Also, I feel sad for Mr. Hartman, he never received the public recognition that he deserved until after his death. I want to personally thank, Clint Eastwood, for putting Mr. Hartman beautiful voice in his movie."

If what you want to do is melt into delicious music...

Rhonda Hampton | Chicago | 12/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Johnny Hartman is the perfect choice - maybe the only voice that can produce the sensory vertigo I experienced the first time I heard him sing "You are too Beautiful..."Then, when I read Billy Collins' poem likening Hartman's voice to the smoke of a forgotten cigarette curling up from an ashtray sitting atop a baby grand piano in the dark hours of early morning (I hope I'm not doing the poem a terrible disservice - I don't have the words - or should I say lyrics - memorized; only the feelings the poetry stirs in me!), I could have died and gone straight to heaven. (Maybe I did.)Johnny Hartman's Everything, and Billy Collins' Poetry-and-Everything, are a perfect fit. Buy this CD and get your hands on a copy of the slender, perfect book, "The Art of Drowning," and see what I mean.It is a shame that Johnny Hartman was never as widely recognized for his wonderfulness as he most certainly should have been. He was and is the best. It's not fair to music lovers everywhere that he is no longer around to perform. Moreover, it is terribly unfair to me that I wasn't around to meet Johnny Hartman, and that Billy Collins is not my next door neighbor. We could talk about jazz and poetry and I would buy my sugar from a little shop in town, one cup at a time. To replace the cup I had borrowed the day before..."