Balladeer Johnny Hartman was born in Houma, Louisiana on July 3, 1923 but was raised in Chicago. Throughout his career in jazz Hartman sang primarily as a solo act, but also made some recordings with established bands. His work with John Coltrane produced what is probably his best-known recording.

Hartman attended DuSable High School in Chicago and then received a scholarship to the Chicago Musical College. After his time in the U.S. Army during World War II, Hartman won an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and was offered an opportunity to sing with the Earl Hines band. That gig was only supposed to last a week, but Hines liked Hartman’s singing and it ended up being a year-long musical relationship that lasted until the band broke up. After his time with Hines Johnny Hartman sang briefly with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band and spent a little time with the Erroll Garner group, too.

In 1950 Hartman decided to go it alone and became a solo artist. The record that really put him on the map was 1955’s “Songs from the Heart” on which he sang with a combo that included trumpeter Howard McGhee. Later in the decade Hartman also recorded with a big band led by former Basie saxophonist Ernie Wilkins.

In 1963 Johnny Hartman made the best-known record of his career when he teamed with John Coltrane to record the cleverly titled “John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman.” Many critics consider it Hartman’s best work. However, by the mid-1960s popular tastes in music were turning to rock and roll and the kind of music at which Hartman excelled was much less in demand. He continued to record for the rest of the decade and in to the 1970s with small labels and worked small clubs in the United States and did some gigs overseas, as well. In 1981 he received a Grammy nomination for his record “Once in Every Life.”

Johnny Hartman died of lung cancer in 1983. He is remembered as one of the great ballad singers of his era. In 1984 New York City designated a section of Harlem near Amsterdam Avenue and 143rd as Johnny Hartman Plaza in his honor.

Here is a link to one of the tracks from the 1963 album Johnny Hartman made with John Coltrane:

"THEY SAY IT'S WONDERFUL"