The story behind puzzle No. 65
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman · John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman · Impulse! · 1963
Billy Strayhorn started writing it as a teenager in Pittsburgh. Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane recorded one of its definitive versions in a single take.
Hartman and Coltrane recorded Lush Life on March 7, 1963, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, for Impulse!, with Bob Thiele producing. Coltrane's quartet backed Hartman: McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums.
Hartman said every song on the album was done in one take, except You Are Too Beautiful, which needed a second because Jones dropped a drumstick. The album entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013.
Strayhorn wrote the song, first called Life Is Lonely, during his high school years in Pittsburgh. It caught Duke Ellington's attention when Strayhorn played for him in December 1938.
Its lyrics are worldly and weary, and its melody wanders far from the usual song form.
Listen to Hartman's deep, calm baritone, which makes the tricky melody sound easy.
Coltrane plays gently here, framing the singer instead of racing ahead.
Who's on it
Keep listening
Hear another Strayhorn tune in Take the "A" Train (puzzle No. 5), and Coltrane with Ellington in In a Sentimental Mood (puzzle No. 58).
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