A crooner who is smoother than smooth, Johnny Hartman's rich baritone melted more than a few hearts in the singer's career. While the song was recorded in 1980 just before his passing, Hartman still sounds great here. "Living for you is easy living" indeed.
They don't come any more likeable than Tony Bennett, but this song's punch line is that the song's narrator wants to stick around and watch another man break the heart of a woman who had once torn his in two. Beautifully rendered with nice string arrangement in the background.
Not one of Ellington's most famous tunes but certainly one of his most haunting ones, "Isfahan" appeared as part of 1966's Far East Suite (named after a city in Iran) and shows that Ellington and Billy Strayhorne continued to work brilliantly together until the latter's passing.
This one may surprise people on first listen -- it's Ray playing acoustic piano instead of his signature electric one, backed by a sextet and there is no singing. Even so you can hear his early love of Nat Cole on this 1957 recording that conjures a late night blues as he tries to forget.
Bebop pianist Flanagan has played giants like Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins where his light tasteful touch always served the tune. Here with his own trio in 1993, he strolls through this Thad Jones gem, touching on the blues as he goes.
This has a big blustery arrangement at times, but Hal David's lyrics and Burt Bacharach music are nonetheless exquisite. Of course Horne's voice is seductive as she makes her point of how "wives should always be lovers too."
1. WTF? Why isn't "Can You Stop The Rain" by Grover Washington Jr. on here? Not cool AOL....not cool.
Posted at 9:24PM on Oct 6th 2009 by Lyness