John Coltrane is overwhelmed by the dated, drippy ballads on this album. In the 60's, every jazz musician had to do a ballad album just the same as everyone did a bossanova album. The music audience who had either given up jazz for rock or could not deal with jazz that was more cerebral were putting pressure on declining jazz sales. John Coltrane watered down his sound for a few ballad albums and then went right back to his real "sheets of sound" force of nature. Even "My Favorite Things" was transformed into a transcental experience. This album though clearly sounds forced. If you dislike Coltrane because you don't find him accessible, you might enjoy this album. However, you are missing out on the real deal.

This album is off the scale, rating it is like trying to rate something sacred. I noticed several reviews with four stars - are you joking? Unless you are Duke Ellington, you are not allowed to find fault with this work.. I doubt Duke would have anyhow. Incidentally, Esquire Magazine found this to be the best album of all time, which is enough to make me want to wretch - those self serving strivers have Billy Strayhorn spinning in his casket. This is purely about music, not cars, stars or here you ares.

Coltrane's sax and Hartman's vocals are perfect together. The album is a reminder of how great the greats were and how soulful jazz can be. However, it's also a reminder that CDs can hold a lot more music than LPs, which this CD was obviously taken from. Its a shock to find the changer moving on to the next CD just when you are getting in the groove.