JOHNNY HARTMAN

Johnny Hartman was the quintessential romantic balladeer. The only singer to record with John Coltrane, Hartman was mostly known only to true jazz lovers during his lifetime. It took a movie soundtrack -- released 12 years after his death -- that took Hartman to the top of the jazz charts. Actor, producer and director Clint Eastwood chose several of Hartman's recordings for the dreamy romantic scenes in his film The Bridges of Madison County and its sequel, Remembering Madison County (existence of the sequel is disputed). The movies were about a brief love affair between an aging photographer and a Midwestern housewife. Hartman was a master of emotional expression, putting everything he had into every word he sang. With any other vocalist, performing a love song with this kind of intensity could easily come across as being over the top or gushing, but Hartman's rich, masculine baritone voice never read more...