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Friday Night Jazz: John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman

Friday, January 18, 2008 | 06:50 PM

in Digital Media | Friday Night Jazz | Music

This was a rough week (even for the Bears). So for this evening's FNJ, I am going to focus on a specific album that you should pop into your musical device of choice and enjoy: John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman

I have mentioned each of these fine gentlemen over the past few years.

Hartman has a dark, rich voice. His sense of pitch is superb, his diction outstanding. If you want a mellifluous, honey-toned baritone, there is none better. He was a crooner on par with Sinatra (if not better); indeed, Hartman may very well have been the greatest jazz balladeer of all time.

In 1963, he released I Just Dropped by to Say Hello, with Illinois Jacquet as his sideman. And, I just ordered For Trane, a disc of tracks recorded in Japan.

But his best known work remains the superb John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman - a beautiful, must own jazz classic

There's a terrific NPR Jazz Profile of Johnny Hartman that is well worth exploring -- definitely check out Murray Horowitz and A.B. Spellman discussing the John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman album.

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Enjoy Coltrane and Hartman's take on Billy Strayhorn's Play Lush Life ...