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
Let Me Love You
Johnny Hartman Lyrics
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If you lend me your ear, I'll make it clear the way that I do
Let me whisper it, let me sigh it
Let me sing it, my dear or I will cry it
Let me love you, let me show that I do
Let me do a million impossible things so you'll know that I do
I'll buy you the dawn if you'll let me love you today
Let me love you, let me show that I do
Let me do a million impossible things so you'll know that I do
I'll buy you the dawn if you'll let me love you today
And if that's not enough, I'll buy you the first of May
And I'll send you merrily on your way
The song "Let Me Love You" by Johnny Hartman is an enchanting love ballad about a man who professes his love for a woman and asks her to give him a chance to prove his affection. The opening line, "Let me love you, let me say that I do," is a tender plea to the woman to open her heart and allow him to express his love for her. He promises to make it clear and to show her through his actions that he truly loves her.
The lyrics then reveal the depth of the man's longing and his willingness to do anything to win the woman's heart. He wants to whisper and sigh his love for her, sing to her, and even cry if necessary, to convey the intensity of his emotions. He tells her that he is willing to do a million impossible things to show her that he loves her, which is an allusion to the impossible tasks that heroes in classical myths would undertake to win the love of their beloved.
The chorus repeats the line "let me love you," reinforcing the man's heartfelt desire to be with the woman. He offers to buy her the dawn and the first of May, which are symbols of new beginnings and fresh starts. Finally, he says that if she lets him love her, he will send her "merrily on her way," suggesting that his love will bring happiness and joy to her life. Overall, the song is a beautiful expression of the power of love to transform and uplift our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Let me convey my love for you with words
If you listen closely, I'll express it so clearly that you'll understand
Let me whisper and let me sigh to communicate how strongly I feel for you
Let me sing sweetly or I'll show the extent of my emotions by crying
Let me prove my love for you, let me demonstrate that I do
I'll perform a million tasks that seem impossible to show the depth of my affection
I'll even purchase the dawn to display my love for you today
And if that's not enough, I'll buy you the first of May
And once you feel my love, you'll be sent off happily to continue your journey
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BART HOWARD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind