John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman (Acoustic Sounds Vinyl 180g)

Contents

Side A

1. They Say It’s Wonderful
2. Dedicated To You
3. My One And Only Love

Side B:

1. Lush Life
2. You Are Too Beautiful
3. Autumn Serenade

Johnny Hartman was obviously Coltrane’s first choice, to complement Coltrane’s tenor perfectly here with his deep, dark voice. The material is carefully selected, including the definitive interpretations of “My One and Only Love” and “Lush Life.”

McCoy Tyner completes the chords, adds the harmonies and supports the sound of these ballads with feeling and skill, and just not overly sentimental. All the musicians get to the bottom of the deep structure of the songs and set their essential statements to music in the most elegant way.

Verve’s Acoustic Sounds series regularly presents reissues from the world’s finest and historically important jazz records. Mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog tapes, they appear on 180g LPs.

A highlight of the series for 2022 is “John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman.” The joint album of the two jazzmen was a career highlight, the perfect interplay of Johnny Hartman’s beautiful baritone voice and John Coltrane’s exploratory yet sensitive tenor saxophone.

The album was recorded in 1963 at Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs in New Jersey, after Coltrane had chosen Hartman as a vocalist, and released the same year. Coltrane and Hartman already knew each other at this point from their days together in Dizzy Gillespie’s band in the late 1940s. The two were supported in the studio by McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on upright bass and Elvin Jones on drums. The band eventually recorded seven songs in the studio, six of which made it onto the record except for “Afro Blues.” All of the tracks were recorded only once, with the exception of “You Are Too Beautiful,” on which drummer Elvin Jones lost a drumstick.

“John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman” is the only album on which the legendary saxophonist collaborated with a vocalist as a leader. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013.

Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from the original analog tapes, mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QPR. The series is overseen by Acoustic Sounds CEO Chad Kassem, and the releases are presented in deluxe gatefold tip-on packaging.