Three Wishes

When the Baroness asked Billy Higgins what his three wishes would be he said:

1. “To have the genius of Thelonious Monk.”
2. “To send my wife and two babies something.”
3. “A set of drums.”

*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats – Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter

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Requisites

John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman is a 1963 studio album featuring John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. It was recorded on March 7, 1963, at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and was released at the end of July of that year on the Impulse! Record label.

Hartman is the only vocalist with whom the saxophonist would record as a leader. Initially when producer Bob Thiele approached Hartman with Coltrane’s request that the two should record together, Hartman was hesitant as he did not consider himself a jazz singer and did not think he and Coltrane would complement one another musically.

However, Thiele encouraged Hartman to go see Coltrane perform at Birdland in New York City to see if something could be worked out. Hartman did so, and after the club closed he, Coltrane and Coltrane’s pianist, McCoy Tyner, went over some songs together. On March 7, 1963, Coltrane and Hartman had decided on 10 songs for the record album, but en route to the studio they heard Nat King Cole on the radio performing “Lush Life”, and Hartman immediately decided that song had to be included in their album.

It has become a classic ballad jazz album, and the renditions of “Lush Life”, “My One and Only Love”, and “They Say It’s Wonderful” are considered definitive.  The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013.

Track Listing ~ 31:11
Side One
They Say It’s Wonderful | Irving Berlin ~ 5:20
Dedicated To You | Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin, Hy Zare ~ 5:32
My One And Only Love | Guy Wood, Robert Mellin ~ 4:55
Side Two
Lush Life | Billy Strayhorn ~ 5:29
You Are Too Beautiful | Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart ~ 5:36
Autumn Serenade | Peter DeRose, Sammy Gallop ~ 4:19

Personnel
Johnny Hartman – vocals
John Coltrane – tenor saxophone
McCoy Tyner – piano
Jimmy Garrison – double bass
Elvin Jones – drums

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