Tracklist
1. What Is There To Say
2. Ain't Misbehavin'
3. I Fall In Love Too Easily
4. We'll Be Together Again
5. Down In The Depths
6. They Didn't Believe Me
7. I'm Glad There Is You
8. When Your Lover Has Gone
9. I'll Remember April
10. I See Your Face Before Me
11. September Song
12. Moonlight In Vermont
13. Down In The Depths (Alternate Take)
14. They Didn't Believe Me (Alternate Take)
15. I'm Glad There Is You (Alternate Take)
16. I'll Remember April (Alternate Take)
17. I See Your Face Before Me (Alternate Take)
18. September Song (Alternate Take)
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Most jazz fans know Johnny Hartman from the
famous
album
he recorded with John Coltrane in the early '60s. However, the singer
had an illustrious career prior to that, recording for a variety of
labels including Bethlehem, which released this album for the first
time in 1956, six years before the Coltrane session. Of all Hartman's
earlier albums,
Songs from the Heart is the best place to
start. It features the crooner fronting a small band, which gives the
proceedings a more intimate ambience than Hartman's forays as a
big-band singer (with
Dizzy
Gillespie,
among others). The small ensemble suits Hartman's romantic melancholia
perfectly; the album is like one long sob. His smoky baritone fits the
mood, and the band follows in suit with some tender but evocative
stylings. Considering pianist Ralph Sharon has backed up Tony Bennett
for decades, it's not surprising to find in his early work an elegant
smoothness. Consisting mostly of standards like "Ain't Misbehavin'," "I
Fall in Love Too Easily," and "I'll Remember April," this is the
perfect album for pouring a good stiff drink and drowning one's sorrows
(especially on a cold winter night). A stand-out track is "Down in the
Depths," where Hartman gets carried away, and apparently so does the
band: the tangling between bassist Jay Cave and Sharon is the most
exciting moment on the album.
--Joe S. Harring
