Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. The second of three albums Johnny Hartman recorded for Impulse! (and following the classic Coltrane/Hartman masterpiece), Hartman's voice is again on display at his best, including "Wee Small Hours of the Morning," "Charade" and "Sleepin' Bee." Hartman's supporting cast is nearly as impressive as his voice, with Hank and Elvin Jones (piano/drums) and Milt Hinton (bass) as rhythm section. Kenny Burrell and Jim Hall contribute on guitar across the album and Illinois Jacquet (tenor) performs on five songs.

The top bands and accompanists of the day during his career, including Earl Hines, Dizzy Gillespie and Erroll Garner, and became famous during the 1970s, beyond the scope of this collection, for an album he made with John Coltrane. Unlike his more middle-of-the-road peers in the world of post-war sophisticated pop, he did not make records aimed at the singles charts so is less well-known than artists like Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis and Mel Torme, but was a singer who was highly-regarded by his peers and aficionados. This excellent-value 52-track 2-CD collection comprises material drawn from singles and albums, featuring recordings with the orchestras of Earl Hines, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Carroll, George Williams, Norman Leyden, Perez Prado, Howard Biggs and Frank Hunter, plus the Errol Garner Trio. It includes selected titles from Regent/Savoy album Johnny Hartman Sings, and his albums on the Bethlehem label Songs From The Heart, All Of Me: The Debonair Mr. Hartman and And I Thought About You. He was a fine interpreter of the repertoire of the Great American Songbook, and this collection offers an insight into the talents of a performer who has not has the attention he merits, and is an entertaining showcase for his work.