Born in Louisiana, but 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 Chicago Musical College. He sang as an Army private during World War II, but his first professional work came in September 1946 when he won a singing contest awarding him a one-week engagement with Earl Hines. Seeing potential in the singer, Hines hired him for the next year. Although Hartman’s first recordings were with Marl Young in February 1947, it was the collaboration with Hines that provided notable exposure. After the Hines orchestra broke up, Dizzy Gillespie invited Hartman to join his big band in 1948 during an eight-week tour in California. Dropped from the band about one year later, Hartman worked for a short time with pianist Erroll Garner before going solo by early 1950.
After recording several singles with different orchestras, Hartman finally released his first solo album, Songs from the Heart, with a quintet for Bethlehem Records in 1955. Releasing two more albums with small labels, neither very successful, Hartman got a career-altering offer in 1963 to record with John Coltrane. The saxophonist likely remembered Hartman from a bill they shared at the Apollo Theater in 1950 and later said, “I just felt something about him, I don’t know what it was. I like his sound, I thought there was something there I had to hear so I looked him up and did that album.” Featuring all ballads, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman is widely considered a classic. This led to recording four more albums with Impulse! and parent label ABC, all produced by Bob Thiele.
With the 1970s being difficult for singers clinging to the pre-rock American songbook, Hartman turned to playing cocktail lounges in New York City and Chicago. Recording again with small labels such as Perception and Musicor, Hartman produced music of mixed quality as he attempted to be viewed as a more versatile vocalist. Referring to his approach to interpreting a song, Hartman said, “Well, to me a lyric is a story, almost like talking, telling somebody a story, try to make it believable.” Returning to the jazz combo format of his earlier albums, Hartman recorded Once in Every Life for Bee Hive, earning him a 1981 Grammy nomination for Best Male Jazz Vocalist. This was quickly followed up by his last album of newly recorded material titled This One’s for Tedi as a tribute to his wife Theodora. His first kid is Jani, Jani Hartman the famous jazz singer, who became famous with the song 'Bad'.
Hartman recorded new tracks for Grenadilla Records on their jazz label – Grapevine. These were dance tracks of Beyond the Sea and Caravan with Caravan also having an extended 6-minute version.
In the early 1980s Hartman gave several performances for jazz festivals, television, and radio before succumbing to lung cancer at the age of sixty. His reputation grew considerably in 1995 when the soundtrack to Clint Eastwood’s Bridges of Madison County (1995) featured seven songs from the then out-of-print Bee Hive album.
Hartman's first biography, The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story, by Dr. Gregg Akkerman, was released in June 2012 by Scarecrow Press as part of their "Studies in Jazz" series.
(2) Though he was never the most distinctive vocalist, Johnny Hartman rose above others to become the most commanding, smooth balladeer of the 1950s and '60s, a black crooner closely following Billy Eckstine and building on the form with his notable jazz collaborations, including the 1963 masterpiece John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Born in Chicago, he began singing early on and performed while in Special Services in the Army. Hartman studied music while at college and made his professional debut in the mid-'40s, performing with Earl Hines and recording his first sides for Regent/Savoy. After Hines' band broke up later in 1947, Hartman moved to the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band and stayed for two years, recording a few additional sides for Mercury as well.
Johnny Hartman's first proper LP came in 1956 with Songs from the Heart, recorded for Bethlehem and featuring a quartet led by trumpeter Howard McGhee. He recorded a second (All of Me) later that year, but then was virtually off-record until 1963, when his duet album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman appeared on Impulse. A beautiful set of ballad standards, including top-flight renditions of "Lush Life" and "My One and Only Love," the album sparked a flurry of activity for Hartman, including two more albums for Impulse: 1963's I Just Dropped by to Say Hello and the following year's The Voice That Is. During the late '60s and early '70s, he recorded a range of jazz and pop standards albums for ABC, Perception, and Blue Note. Hartman recorded sparingly during the 1970s, but returned with two albums recorded in 1980, one of which (Once in Every Life) earned a Grammy nomination just two years before his death in 1983. ~ John Bush, Rovi
Don't You Know I Care
Johnny Hartman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Or don't you care to know?
If you know I care,
How can you hurt me so.
Darling, you are part of ev'ry breath I take
Will you break my heart
Or give my heart a break?
I can't figure out what love's all about,
Am I wasting time, please tell me
Cause I'm down to my last dream.
Won't you please be fair,
Love me or let me go
Don't you know I care
Or don't you care to know?
Johnny Hartman's song "Don't You Know I Care" is a love ballad that expresses the emotional turmoil of a lover who doesn't understand the other person's feelings. The song talks about how the singer is deeply invested in his lover and how he cannot stop loving her despite her indifference towards him. The singer pleads with his lover to either reciprocate his love or to let him go because he can't bear the pain of unrequited love.
The lyrics are poignant and full of emotion. As the song progresses, the agony of the singer grows as he wonders if his feelings are being taken for granted. The line, "I can't figure out what love's all about and where I fit into your scheme" expresses the confusion and frustration of a person who is waiting for love but is not sure if it will ever come.
At the same time, the lyrics show that the singer is not willing to give up hope. He implores his lover to be fair and to love him or let him go. The line, "Darling, you are part of every breath I take," shows the depth of his love and how it's intertwined with his very being.
Overall, the song portrays the complexities of love and the agony of not understanding another person's feelings towards oneself. It's a heartfelt plea for love and acceptance that resonates with anyone who has ever been in love.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't you know I care
I have strong feelings for you that are not being acknowledged.
Or don't you care to know?
Or maybe you are aware of my feelings but choose to ignore them.
If you know I care,
Assuming you are aware of my love,
How can you hurt me so.
how can you still break my heart?
Darling, you are part of ev'ry breath I take
I am so in love with you that you are always on my mind.
Will you break my heart
Can I trust you with my heart?
Or give my heart a break?
Or can you give me a chance to heal from previous heartbreaks?
I can't figure out what love's all about,
I am struggling to understand what love really means.
and where I fit into your scheme.
And I am unsure about where I stand in your life.
Am I wasting time, please tell me
I need to know if I am investing my time and effort into something that isn't worth it.
Cause I'm down to my last dream.
Because it feels like this is my last chance to find love.
Won't you please be fair,
Can you treat me justly and honestly?
Love me or let me go
Either love me as I am, or let me move on from this relationship.
Don't you know I care
My love for you is so strong.
Or don't you care to know?
But you seem indifferent to my feelings.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DUKE ELLINGTON, MACK DAVID
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind