Early Years: Selected Albums 1956-58

Johnny Mathis - Early Years: Selected Albums 1956-58 - The collection offers a thoroughly enjoyable showcase for his unique talent. Johnny Mathis, who, as these notes are being written in March 2026, is still a much-loved and respected figure in popular music at the age of 90, has been one the most distinctive and successful singers in popular music for the last seven decades. His velvet voice and immaculate phrasing enabled him to transcend the genres to encompass, sophisticated pop, jazz, easy listening and even disco over the years, and he had over 80 hits from the 1950s through to the '80s (see Johnny Mathis " The Complete US Singles As & Bs 1957-62" Acrobat ADDCD3171). He began his recording career just as the long-playing album format was becoming a burgeoning medium, soon followed by the stereo boom and he was ideally placed to take advantage of that. This 46-track 2-CD collection features just about all the titles from his first albums for Columbia, "Johnny Mathis", "Wonderful, Wonderful", "Warm" and "Swing Softly". Mostly comprising his trademark versions of classics from the Great American Songbook, and with accompaniments directed by great arranger/composers of the day - Percy Faith, Ted Macero, Bob Prince, Manny Albam, Gil Evans, and John Lewis - the collection offers a thoroughly enjoyable showcase for his unique talent as a song stylist, captured at the start of what would be a long and illustrious career.