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
I Could Write a Book
Johnny Hartman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I never learned to spell
At least not well.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7
I never learned to count
A great amount.
To use what learning I've got.
I won't waste any time,
I'll strike while the iron is hot.
If they asked me, I could write a book
About the way you walk and whisper and look.
I could write a preface on how we met
So the world would never forget.
And the simple secret of the plot
Is just to tell them that I love you a lot.
Then the world discovers as my book ends
How to make two lovers a friend.
Use to hate to go to school
I never cracked a book;
I played the hook.
Never answered any mail;
To write I used to think was wasting ink.
It was never my endeavor
To be too clever and smart.
Now I suddenly feel
A longing to write in my heart.
If they asked me, I could write a book
About the way you walk and whisper and look.
I could write a preface on how we met
So the world would never forget.
And the simple secret of the plot
Is just to tell them that I love you a lot.
Then the world discovers as my book ends
How to make two lovers a friend.
The lyrics of the song "I Could Write a Book" by Johnny Hartman are about a person who confesses that they never learned to spell or count properly but has a burning desire to write a book about their love. The singer speaks about their lack of academic knowledge, but their mind is active and filled with ideas to create a book. They express how they want to strike while the iron is hot and use the learning they have got to make the most of their time.
The singer visualizes how the book would look, and they could write a preface about how they met their love. They want the world to remember their love and how it started. The simple secret of the plot would be to tell the readers that they love their partner very much. The book would set an example for the world about how to turn two lovers into friends.
The song could be interpreted as a representation of how love can inspire and motivate people to write. Even though the singer lacks academic knowledge, they have the ability to use their love to create a beautiful book.
Line by Line Meaning
A-B-C-D-E-G
I never learned to spell, At least not well.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7
I never learned to count, A great amount.
But my busy mind is burning
My mind is busy and eager
To use what learning I've got.
To use whatever knowledge I possess
I won't waste any time,
I won't procrastinate
I'll strike while the iron is hot.
I'll take advantage of the opportunity while I can
If they asked me, I could write a book
If someone asked me, I could write a detailed story
About the way you walk and whisper and look.
About your unique way of walking, whispering and looking
I could write a preface on how we met
I could write an introduction explaining how we met
So the world would never forget.
So that the world would remember
And the simple secret of the plot
The key element of the story
Is just to tell them that I love you a lot.
Is to reveal the deep affection that I have for you
Then the world discovers as my book ends
As the book concludes, the world gets to know
How to make two lovers a friend.
How to turn two lovers into friends
Use to hate to go to school
I used to dislike going to school
I never cracked a book;
I never opened a book to read
I played the hook.
I played truant
Never answered any mail;
I never replied to any letters
To write I used to think was wasting ink.
I used to believe that writing was a waste of ink
It was never my endeavor
It was never my aim
To be too clever and smart.
To be excessively wise and intelligent
Now I suddenly feel
Now I feel all of a sudden
A longing to write in my heart.
An intense desire to write has arisen within me.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
KentuckyJet
it does not get any better then Tony singing Rogers and Hart!
Jim O'Shields
The CEO singing one of my all time favorite songs!!
CLMKC
Such tasteful horn improvisations