Case in point is Johnny Janis, the man whose wonderful music comes with this free set of liner notes. (It was either that or shampoo samples and jazz fans are just so picky about their personal grooming products.) John grew up in Chicago, and began playing guitar at the age of 15. Inspired by Charlie Christian and Oscar Moore, he played clubs with groups patterned after the Nat King Cole and Page Cavanaugh Trios. He worked on vocal technique so he could answer customer requests for certain kinds of songs, and got serious about it as a way to avoid the heroin scene into which so many of his instrumental friends were disappearing.
 
Over the years, John's talent as vocalist, guitarist, arranger, and songwriter has given him an impressive resume of collaborations: Herbie Hancock, Ray Brown, Ira Sullivan, bop pianists Jimmy Bunn and Dodo Marmarosa, Count Basie drummers Sonny Payne and Harold Jones. Ironically, as a guitarist, he toured with Vic Damone and worked New York's Copa with Tony Bennett.
 
In the 60's, many great jazz musicians worked the international Playboy clubs and John was a regular on that circuit. When Hugh Hefner decided to be a record producer, John was his vocalist of choice. The result was a romantic classic, a set of dynamic ballads beautifully arranged by Don Costa titled Once In A Blue Moon.
 
As work for jazz singers and balladeers dried up in the psychedelic 70's, many veterans like John found other things to do, resulting in much of the hibernation we described at the beginning of these notes. But occasionally quality rises to the surface, and many classic jazz singers revived their careers in the 90's. That brings us to this CD, which by now, you have probably had the good sense to begin listening to instead of reading these liner notes.
 
There's no reason for me to be modest in my admiration for the Janis style. His voice still projects a deep understanding of the story a song is telling, with an “old school” range of dynamics and emotion that you don't find in young balladeers. And please pay attention to John's guitar work, especially on the vocal ballads. Instead of a chord strumming style, he uses an orchestral approach, and there is no guitar overdubbing on those vocals. John records as he plays live, playing all that beautiful harmonic movement on guitar while in complete control of a big voice and a sensitive approach to lyrics. He worked for years to develop a simultaneous independence between his guitar and voice, so that even while singing, he can think like a guitarist, supporting the vocals exactly as another player would, no matter where he goes as the singer.

John explains it this way, “If you overdub, you lose the spontaneity of the moment. There is a spontaneous emotional interaction between the vocal and the guitar on every take. One moment what I play on guitar depends on how I sing a phrase, and the next moment, how I sing the following phrase may depend on what I just played on guitar.”
 
The movement between guitar and voice Is especially impressive in the tracks that are just vocals and guitar, like My One and Only Love, Where is Love, My Funny Valentine, and Here's That Rainy Day. There is so much going on here emotionally and harmonically you'll have to remind yourself that it's just one person. And Didn't We? is especially moving with John's clever use of When the World Was Young as an introduction.

More of his talent as an arranger is revealed with Get Out of Town, Put On A Happy Face and John's bebop head Minor Kicks. From his tape vault of various projects, these are some fun finds. Not too many singers can arrange for themselves and to my ears, John's completeness of thought sends him to the head of the class with artists like Nat King Cole, Jeri Southern and Buddy Greco.

The last 5 numbers, Peace, Let Me Be, You and I, I Know, and With You are like little intriguing tone poems, written by John, who uses overdubbing here to play all the parts on guitar. Each is lovely the way it is, with appealingly direct melodies that could also be developed further as a vocal or instrumental arrangement. In fact, the great Johnny Mercer was writing a lyric for Peace just before he passed away. I hope John gets in touch with Mercer's estate someday to see if he finished it.

If you took my advice 4 paragraphs ago to quit fooling around and play the CD, you know Johnny Janis is a classic singer of great standards (like Sinatra or Bennett) who doesn't improvise wildly, but uses his mastery of rhythm and phrasing to make ballads swing and up-tempo tunes feel relaxed and personal. His voice is like listening to an old friend; you hear warmth, experience, and a touch of melancholy. And he is one old friend we are really glad to see recording again.