John Maurice Hartman (July 3, 1923 – September 15, 1983) was an American ja… Read Full Bio ↴John Maurice Hartman (July 3, 1923 – September 15, 1983) was an American jazz singer who specialized in ballads and earned critical acclaim, though he was never widely known. He recorded a well-known collaboration with the saxophonist John Coltrane in 1963 called John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, and was briefly a member of Dizzy Gillespie's group and recorded with Erroll Garner. Most of Hartman's career was spent recording solo albums.

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

It Was Almost Like A Song
Johnny Hartman Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Once in every life
Someone comes along
And you came to me
It was almost like a song
You were in my arms
Right where you belong
And we were so in love
It was almost like a song

January through December
We had such a perfect year
Then the flame became a dying ember
All at once you weren′t here

Now my broken heart
Cries for you each night
And It's almost like a song
But it′s much too sad to write

Now my broken heart
Cries for you each night
And It's almost like a song

But it's much too sad to write
It′s too sad to write

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Johnny Hartman's song It Was Almost Like A Song, encapsulate the emotions of a love story that was almost perfect but ultimately ended in heartbreak. The opening line "Once in every life, someone comes along" suggests that the singer believed that they had found their true love. When the singer sings "And you came to me, it was almost like a song," they are reminiscing about the moment they fell in love. The comparison to a song suggests that everything fell into place, was harmonious, and in sync.

The second stanza suggests that the romance lasted a year, during which the couple experienced bliss. However, the phrase "the flame became a dying ember," suggests that the love faded away, and the person they loved "wasn’t here." The third stanza reveals that the singer's heart aches, and they still cry for their loved one. However, the pain is too much to bear, and even though their story was almost like a song, it's too sad to write.

Overall, It Was Almost Like A Song is a poignant song about love and loss. The lyrics capture the unique feeling of falling in love and the profound sadness that accompanies heartbreak.

Line by Line Meaning

Once in every life
Rarely in one's lifetime

Someone comes along
A special person appears

And you came to me
And you appeared in my life

It was almost like a song
It was magical and perfect

You were in my arms
I held you close

Right where you belong
As if we were meant to be together

And we were so in love
And we loved each other very much

It was almost like a song
It was magical and perfect

January through December
Throughout the year

We had such a perfect year
We had a wonderful and perfect time

Then the flame became a dying ember
Then our love began to fade