Top Ten Best Romantic Jazz Songs

Jazz is a varied genre often filled with exciting improvisation, but at other times it provides a smoldering setting perfect for when lovers talk succumbs to more amorous ways to converse.

10) Johnny Hartman: ‘Easy Living”

A crooner who is smoother than smooth, Johnny Hartman’s rich baritone melted more than a few hearts in the singer’s career. While the song was recorded in 1980 just before his passing, Hartman still sounds great here. “Living for you is easy living” indeed.

9) Peggy Lee: ‘Fever’

Never has a song better described what happens when love is in full bloom. Lee sings how her lover gives her a fever, but the sultry vocal performance here leaves no doubt that she makes sure that the feeling is mutual. A classic that hasn’t lost its punch.

Diana Krall: ‘Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You’

Taken from her third album, which is a tribute to Nat Cole, “Gee Baby” finds Krall telling the story of a woman perhaps too generous to her lover, but she just can’t help herself. Krall adds wonderful piano vamps and benefits from wonderful guitar work from Russell Malone.

7) Tony Bennett: ‘I Wanna Be Around’

They don’t come any more likeable than Tony Bennett, but this song’s punch line is that the song’s narrator wants to stick around and watch another man break the heart of a woman who had once torn his in two. Beautifully rendered with nice string arrangement in the background.

6) Duke Ellington: ‘Isfahan’

Not one of Ellington’s most famous tunes but certainly one of his most haunting ones, “Isfahan” appeared as part of 1966’s Far East Suite (named after a city in Iran) and shows that Ellington and Billy Strayhorne continued to work brilliantly together until the latter’s passing.

5) Ray Charles: ‘There’s No You’

This one may surprise people on first listen — it’s Ray playing acoustic piano instead of his signature electric one, backed by a sextet and there is no singing. Even so you can hear his early love of Nat Cole on this 1957 recording that conjures a late night blues as he tries to forget.

4) Tommy Flannagan: ‘To You’

Bebop pianist Flanagan has played giants like Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins where his light tasteful touch always served the tune. Here with his own trio in 1993, he strolls through this Thad Jones gem, touching on the blues as he goes.

3) Lena Horne: ‘Wives and Lovers’

This has a big blustery arrangement at times, but Hal David’s lyrics and Burt Bacharach music are nonetheless exquisite. Of course Horne’s voice is seductive as she makes her point of how “wives should always be lovers too.”

2) Nat King Cole: ‘Mona Lisa’

With a voice as soft and lush as crushed velvet, Cole celebrates a hauntingly beautiful woman with a mysterious smile.

1) Natalie Cole ‘Unforgettable’

Here Natalie Cole takes her father’s classic song and through the wonders of modern studio technology is able to duet with dad long after his passing. She made pops proud with this 1991 hit that tastefully revisits one of the all-time great love songs.