John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1976 Japanese ABC Impulse! YS-8505-AI Gatefold LP)

Vinyl: EX
Sleeve: EX
Obi: EX

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John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman | Vinyl LP - 1976 Japanese ABC Impulse! Gatefold (YS-8505-AI, Nippon Columbia Co. Ltd.)

Coltrane had approached Hartman about recording together. Hartman was initially reluctant, not thinking of himself as a jazz vocalist, but heard Coltrane at Birdland and agreed. They recorded on March 7, 1963. Bob Thiele arranged the session. Six songs, with Rudy Van Gelder engineering. Jimmy Garrison on bass, McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums playing brushes throughout.

Six ballads, all standards. Irving Berlin's "They Say It's Wonderful," from Annie Get Your Gun (1946). Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin and Hy Zaret's "Dedicated to You." Robert Mellin and Guy Wood's "My One and Only Love." Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life." Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "You Are Too Beautiful." Peter DeRose and Sammy Gallop's "Autumn Serenade." Hartman's deep baritone settles into each song without decoration. Coltrane solos between and around the vocal lines, then pulls back. On three tracks, "My One and Only Love," "Lush Life" and "You Are Too Beautiful", Coltrane later overdubbed additional saxophone phrases behind Hartman's voice; a new master incorporating these overdubs, with additional echo added by Van Gelder, became the standard version. Most pressings from 1964 onward use this later master.

This is the 1976 Japanese ABC Impulse! pressing (YS-8505-AI), manufactured by Nippon Columbia Co. Ltd., issued in a gatefold sleeve with Japanese liner notes.