Verve has come out with a series of Compact Discs featuring soft romantic music by several jazz and blues greats entitled For Lovers I'm no Casanova nor a Libertine, but I do know that most women don't tend to want to get romantic to the tunes of Guns 'n' Roses or Metallica (at least not the ones I have known). All the music in this collection falls under what is known as Adult Contemporary. It's the sort of music you hear in the background at upscale cocktail parties or in scenes of seduction on soap operas and movies. It's the sort of music that makes you want to light candles, pour wine, and fill the jacuzzi. It's the kind of music that makes you want sax.

This particular Disc is a great collection of songs by legendary saxophone player John Coltrane. Coltrane has dozens of albums out on compact disc, some romantic, some experimental, some focused more on avante garde jazz. If you are looking for the romantic music of Coltrane, this CD (and More Coltrane for Lovers) offers a quick and easy collection of romantic jazz ballads by Coltrane.

The tracks included are:

My One and Only Love with Johnny Hartman on vocals. It's a moody mellow piece and Hartman's voice is rich and deep.

Too Young to Go Steady is an instrumental piece, with gentle pianos in the background and John Coltrane's sweet sweet sax in the center channel (even though this CD is in stereo, it has great imaging).

In a Sentimental Mood and It's Easy to Remember are both relaxing smooth instrumentals. I felt like I had gone back in time.

Dedicated to You again features the crooning deep voice of Johnny Hartman. After his opening lyrics, Coltrane comes in on the sax, and sounds great!

You Don't Know What Love Is I am used to hearing this song sung by songbird Billie Holiday, but hearing Coltrane's sax only interpretation of the song gives it a much less painful sound. (Holiday's version is heart wrenchingly beautiful, but not romantic)

After the Rain, My Little Brown Book, Soul Eyes, They Say It's Wonderful and Nancy (with the Laughing Face) fill the CD out, and each are instrumental songs, (except It's Wonderful again featuring the vocals of Hartman) with gentle piano medleys in the background and Coltranes sensual saxophone in the forefront. This is the soft jazz of romance, not the harsh jazz of a certain genre of movies. If you haven't gotten to where you want to be by the last cut on this album, it's time to say goodnight.

Who Is On this Disc?

Well of course Coltrane plays Tenor Saxophone on all the songs. Duke Ellington, McCly Tyner or Aaron Bell are on Piano depending on the song (sorry , there was no song by song breakdown); Jimmy Garrisson on Bass; Roy Haynes, Sam Woodward or Elvin Jones on drums; and Johnny Hartman on vocals.

Sound Quality I've picked up quite a few of the Impulse and Verve recordings of Jazz performers, and especially with the Coltrane releases I have never been disappointed with sound quality. You get an almost studio like sound from the album with excellent spatial separation. Stereo really sounds three dimensional on this album especially with good sound equipment. I threw this beautiful disc onto my Meridian 506.24 CD player using a Yamaha 5280 as a pre/pro processor and a Rotel Amplifier powering a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 70s. It sounds absolutely beautiful, you can picture Coltrane and his band right there in your living room. Given the romantic nature of this music, I am also happy to say it sounds just great in my bedroom system, played on a Pioneer Elite 45A DVD player with a Denon 1805 Surround Sound Receiver and a set of Cambridge Soundworks M-60 Speakers. Although the sound is still clear enough to picture the band, I try not to, because that would be distracting.

Summary This music may be too mellow for some, but if you like smooth romantic jazz, Verve's For Lover's collection delivers it up from all the greats. I still prefer Coltrane's actual studio albums over compilations, but this is a great set of songs, and I also really liked Johnny Hartman's voice, he was a singer I wasn't familiar with before getting this disc.

Recommend this product?