Johnny Mathis (album)


Johnny Mathis is the first studio album by vocalist Johnny Mathis that was released by Columbia Records in 1956. The subtitle A New Sound in Popular Song can be found on the back cover but not on the front of the album or the disc label; in fact, this Mathis LP has been referred to as "the jazz album".
This release did not make it onto Billboard magazine's Best Selling Pop Albums chart, which had 15 positions available at the time.
Columbia/Legacy released the album on compact disc for the first time as a 40th Anniversary Edition on May 7, 1996, and included a previously unreleased recording of "I'm Glad There Is You".
In the UK the album was originally issued by Fontana Records with alternate artwork and a different track listing. On May 14, 2001, this version had its first pressing on compact disc as one of two albums on one CD, the other album being its 1957 follow-up, Wonderful Wonderful.

History

In the liner notes for the original album, Columbia Records executive and album producer George Avakian wrote of a visit to a nightclub to hear Mathis during a trip to San Francisco in the summer of 1955: "I gave in to the blandishments of my good friend Helen Noga... and agreed to go listen to a 19-year-old local boy." The young singer's talent was immediately apparent: "Before Johnny finished his second song, I knew I was going to sign him.... Obviously he had more training than most pop singers; his extraordinary breath control and sweeping range indicated that. He could do as many different things as four very different singers might, and do them well. All he needed was experience and seasoning." Avakian knew this would take time and returned in January 1956 to see how his skills were developing. "Johnny's repertoire, already unusually broad, had grown enormously, and so had his poise and control. He had learned what to do with his hands, how to make and maintain close contact with his audience, and to program his songs most effectively. Best of all, he had grown so much in quality that I had no doubt that the time had come to record."
Avakian also described what he had in mind for this project: "I visualized a series of intimate small-band sessions with a variety of arrangers, each given carte blanche as to instrumentation and treatment within the overall interpretation of each song as taped as a guide by Johnny in San Francisco." As the head of the jazz department at Columbia, however, he had developed an ear for that vocal style. "Johnny's singing is thoroughly jazz-oriented, so naturally arrangers were chosen who had a thorough command of the jazz idiom, as well as the ability to write imaginatively for a pop vocalist." He explained that these arrangers had "done a certain amount of what might be called experimental writing. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that these arrangements contain many elements seldom encountered in pop vocal accompaniments."
Despite this album's failure to chart, Avakian also produced the Wonderful Wonderful LP for Mathis the following year.

Track listing (US)

Side one

  1. "Autumn in Rome" – 3:56
  2. "Easy to Love" from Born to Dance – 2:29
  3. "Street of Dreams" – 2:15
  4. "Love, Your Magic Spell is Everywhere" from The Trespasser – 2:59
  5. "Prelude to a Kiss" – 4:26
  6. "Babalu" – 2:47

    Side two

  7. "Caravan" – 3:59
  8. "In Other Words " – 3:52
  9. "Star Eyes" from I Dood It – 2:48
  10. "It Might as Well Be Spring" from State Fair – 4:47
  11. "Cabin in the Sky" from Cabin in the Sky – 2:57
  12. "Angel Eyes" from Jennifer – 4:19

    1996 CD bonus track

The album's first compact disc release in 1996 included one bonus track that was previously unavailable:
The album's CD release as part of the 2017 box set included "I'm Glad There Is You" and one other track, which had not been available before:

Side one

  1. "Wild Is the Wind" from Wild Is the Wind – 2:24
  2. "Easy to Love" – 2:29
  3. "Street of Dreams" – 2:15
  4. "Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere" – 2:59
  5. "Prelude to a Kiss" – 4:26
  6. "No Love " – 2:19

    Side two

  7. "Come to Me" – 3:05
  8. "In Other Words " – 3:52
  9. "Star Eyes" – 2:48
  10. "It Might As Well Be Spring" – 4:47
  11. "When I Am with You" – 2:59
  12. "The Twelfth of Never" – 2:26

    Recording dates and personnel

The 1996 CD and 2017 box set provided the session dates. The musicians for each song were listed on the back cover of the original album and in the liner notes of the box set.
; Unused recordings
The liner notes for the 1996 release of the album on compact disc include a list of the songs that were also recorded at these sessions but went unused and were destroyed in 1958: