Johnny Hartman

Johnny Hartman was one of the best balladeers of all time. Even though he was the only singer ever to record with John Coltrane, he never achieved much notoriety until more than a decade after his death when Clint Eastwood used several of his songs in the movie “Bridges Of Madison County.” The song in this clip is “It Never Entered My Mind” (Rogers and Hart 1940). I believe it comes from “The Sammy Davis Jr Show” which aired 4 episodes in April of 1966.

Okay, when did Sammy find time in his “busy being brilliant” schedule to learn to play the vibes? It’s killing me that I know the song Sammy is playing but I can’t for the life of me think what it’s called. By the way, Sammy Davis Jr, a genius but, by all accounts, a lovely man. What is the opposite of screeching man-diva anyway?

Also, if I could only choose 5 albums to be stranded on a desert island with I’d probably lapse into a coma of apoplectic indecision and miss the boat entirely. So I guess that’s a good thing…