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
In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
Johnny Hartman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
While the whole wide world is fast asleep
You lie awake and think about the girl
And never even think of counting sheep
When your lonely heart has learned its lesson
You'd be hers if only she would call
In the wee small hours of the morning
When the sun is high in the afternoon sky
You can always find something to do
But from dusk till dawn as the clock ticks on
Something happens to you
When your lonely heart has learned its lesson
You'd be hers if only she would call
In the wee small hours of the morning
That's the time you miss her most of all
That's the time you miss her most of all
The song "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" by Johnny Hartman is a poignant representation of longing and missing someone. Starting with the line "In the wee small hours of the morning, while the whole wide world is fast asleep", Hartman sets the mood of loneliness and solitude. The lyrics then speak of lying awake and thinking about a girl, unable to fall asleep while missing her, emphasizing how her presence would ease his heartache.
As the song progresses, Hartman's loneliness only gets amplified as he talks about how he can find something to do during the day time but the nights are the hardest. When he sings, "Something happens to you", it's clear that he means that the night brings out his deepest feelings and emotions, making him more vulnerable to his thoughts of her. In the end, he repeats the primary theme of the song when he sings "That's the time you miss her most of all".
Overall, the song is a powerful representation of heartache and missing someone. Hartman's voice conveys the pain of loneliness and the lyrics emphasize how the night amplifies those emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
In the wee small hours of the morning
At the early hours of the morning when the majority of the world is asleep
While the whole wide world is fast asleep
During the time where the entire world is sleeping soundly
You lie awake and think about the girl
At this time, you are awake and your mind wanders with thoughts of a certain woman
And never even think of counting sheep
You are so lost in your thoughts that typical sleeping methods like counting sheep are impossible
When your lonely heart has learned its lesson
After experiencing heartache, you have now gained insight and newfound wisdom
You'd be hers if only she would call
You still have strong feelings for this woman but you are too afraid to initiate communication
That's the time you miss her most
This moment in the early morning is when your longing for her is felt the most
When the sun is high in the afternoon sky
During the day, when the sun is shining and the world is bustling with activity
You can always find something to do
It is easy to distract oneself with tasks during the daytime
But from dusk till dawn as the clock ticks on
When night falls and time seems slower, your thoughts of her become more prominent
Something happens to you
You begin to feel a sense of melancholy and longing during the nighttime hours
That's the time you miss her most of all
Out of all the times in the day, this specific moment in the wee small hours of the morning is when you miss her the most
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Bob Hilliard, David Mann
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind