When you speak of the jazz greats, even a peon like me (as Batty would say) who has no interest in jazz knows of the likes of Davis, Coltrane and Ellington, and it's Coltrane we're focussing on in this segment. Not known for teaming up with any singers during his long and illustrious career, John Coltrane deigned not only to collaborate, but to make a full album with ex-Dizzy Gillespie vocalist Johnny Hartman, reportedly the only vocalist he would agree to sing with. Their album of covers, imaginatively titled
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, spawned some classic songs but this one is not as well known, and I have never heard it.
Title: Autumn Serenade
Format: Album track
Written by: Pete DeRose and Sammy Gallop
Performed by: John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
Genre: Jazz
Taken from: The album of the same name
Year: 1963
Acclaim: Unsure
Hartman has that deep, mellifluous voice endemic to the greats such as Tony Bennett or Bing Crosby, and the upright bass is really nice. Like the line
”Love was ours till October wandered by” but of course the song only really comes to life when Coltrane's sax slides in and basically takes over. Not, to be fair, the kind of sax I prefer, sort of warbly where I prefer smooth, but it certainly makes the song. It does however seem to be the case that Hartman and Coltrane don't tend to play together, ie at the same time. You have the first vocal from Hartman, then Coltrane takes over with the tenor sax solo, and then he fades out for the last minute as Hartman comes back in. Seems like they could almost have recorded their parts separately. Maybe that's how these things work in jazz, I don't know. Hasn't changed my mnd about the genre though.
Things I like about this song:
1. The vocal is rich and deep, does evoke autumn days
2. There's a nice smooth feel to it
3. The bass is great
Things I don't like about this song:
1. I'm not particularly enamoured of Coltrane's sax playing here
2. The idea that the two of them don't play in tandem sort of ruins the song
Rating: 