Johnny Hartman

John Maurice Hartman (July 3, 1923 – September 15, 1983) was an American jazz singer, known for his rich baritone voice and recordings of ballads. He sang and recorded with Earl Hines' and Dizzy Gillespie's big bands and with Erroll Garner. Hartman is best remembered for his 1963 collaboration with saxophonist John Coltrane, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, a landmark album for both him and Coltrane.

Biography Born to an African-American family in Louisiana and raised in Chicago, Hartman began singing and playing the piano by the age of eight. He attended DuSable High School studying music under Walter Dyett before receiving a scholarship to the Chicago Musical College. He sang as a private in the Army's Special Services during World War II, but his first professional break came in September 1946 when he won a singing contest at the Apollo Theater, earning him a one-week engagement with Earl Hines, which lasted a year. Hartman's first recordings were with Marl Young during that time, though it was his collaboration with Hines that gave him notable exposure. After the Hines orchestra broke up, Dizzy Gillespie invited Hartman to join his big band for an eight-week tour of California in 1948. After leaving Gillespie, Hartman worked for a short time with pianist Erroll Garner before beginning as a soloist early in 1950.

After recording several singles with different orchestras, Hartman finally made a breakthrough in 1956 with the release of his first solo album, Songs from the Heart, for Bethlehem Records,

By the mid-1960s, popular tastes were embracing rock and roll, and Hartman's style had much less commercial appeal. With the 1970s being difficult times for singers working from the Great American Songbook, Hartman turned to playing cocktail lounges in New York City and Chicago. He did a television special in Australia and recorded several albums in Japan, including a tribute to Coltrane after the saxophonist's death in 1967.

Recording with small, independent labels such as Perception and Musicor, Hartman produced music of mixed quality as he attempted to be viewed as a more versatile vocalist. Speaking about his approach to interpreting a song, he said, "Well, to me a lyric is a story, almost like talking, telling somebody a story, try to make it believable." When he returned to the jazz combo format of his earlier albums, Hartman recorded Once in Every Life for the Bee Hive label, which earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Male Jazz Vocalist in 1981.

Hartman recorded new tracks for Grenadilla Records on their jazz label, Grapevine. These were dance tracks like "Beyond the Sea" and "Caravan", with the latter also having an extended six-minute version.

In the early 1980s, Hartman gave several performances at jazz festivals and for television and radio before succumbing to lung cancer at the age of 60. He died at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. More than a decade after he died, Clint Eastwood featured four songs from the then out-of-print album Once in Every Life for the dreamy, romantic scenes in The Bridges of Madison County (1995).

A biography, The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story by Dr. Gregg Akkerman, was published in June 2012 by Scarecrow Press as part of their "Studies in Jazz" series.

Personal life Hartman had a brief first marriage that did not last. He later married Theodora ("Tedi") Boyd, a dancer and secretary. They had two daughters: Lori and Tedi. Lori Hartman is a minister of the United Methodist Church in New York City and a vocalist.

Memorial In 1984, the New York City Council designated the area formed by Amsterdam Avenue, Hamilton Place, and West 143rd Street in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Manhattan as Johnny Hartman Plaza.

Discography Sources: Dizzy Gillespie, The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (Bluebird, 1995) – four studio tracks with Gillespie's orchestra The Complete Regent Recordings (Disconforme / Jazz Factory, 2001) – plus three tracks from 1961 with Andrew Hill The Complete Bethlehem Sessions (Essential Jazz Classics, 2015) – both Bethlehem albums with extra tracks, the four studio sides with Dizzy Gillespie's Orchestra, the four Erroll Garner Trio singles, and the six singles with Earl Hines and His Orchestra First, Lasting & Always (Regent, 1947) – reissued in 1984 by Savoy Just You, Just Me (Regent, 1956) – reissued in 1984 by Savoy Songs from the Heart (Bethlehem, 1956) All of Me: The Debonair Mr. Hartman (Bethlehem, 1957) And I Thought About You (Roost, 1959) John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (Impulse!, 1963) The Voice That Is! (Impulse!, 1964) I Just Dropped by to Say Hello (Impulse!, 1964) Unforgettable Songs by Johnny Hartman (ABC-Paramount, 1966) I Love Everybody (ABC, 1966) Today (Perception, 1972) Hartman Meets Hino (Capitol Music Japan, 1972) For Trane (Blue Note, 1972) – 1995 Hartman Sings Trane's Favorites (Capitol Music Japan, 1973) I've Been There (Perception, 1973) Johnny Hartman, Johnny Hartman (Musicor, 1977) Thank You for Everything (Audiophile, 1998) – privately recorded in 1978 Once in Every Life (Bee Hive, 1980) This One's for Tedi (Audiophile, 1980)