Harry Connick Jr. - 20

excellent

This is one of Harry Connick Jr's best albums...
if you were only going to get one, this is the one to get.
all great songs. in my opinion Harry sings way better than Frank Sinatra.
great, smooth jazz. January 28, 2008

My favorite Connick

This remains my favorite Harry Connick, Jr., recording, even though he's done a lot of fantastic work since. The song selection, and his brilliant interpretations of the material are especially amazing, given that he was just a young pup of 20 when he recorded this. Songs like "Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?" and "Basin Street Blues" are as much a part of my home as the colorful streetscape outside of my window. He breathes freshness into other standards like "Blue Skies" and the peppy "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone." As a player and as a vocalist, Harry has an amazing sensitivity and maturity that hearkens back to the very greatest jazz masters--but he has a playfulness and sense of joy that brings the material to a whole new level. Enjoy! March 11, 2006

Essential Harry

I like Harry Connick's big band work, and even some of his more experimental pieces, but this is essential Harry. I was born and raised near New Orleans, and good jazz and blues were standard fare for us growing up -- other people had nursery rhymes;we had Jelly Roll Morton. This album is vintage jazz/blues -- all you need to add is a smoke filled room and someone to snuggle with. It includes the classic "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" featuring the inimitable Dr. John, making this Crescent City favorite a standout piece. Mr Connick takes several standards, like "Avalon" and "Blue Skies" and makes them his own, using amazing piano work. His version of "If I Only Had a Brain" is almost tear jerking in its heartfelt halting phrasing, while "Imagination" is beautifully done -- you can hear the longing and insecurity in his voice. This is the album you want to slow dance to next to the fireplace with your one true love. If I were told I was going deaf next week, this would be the last album I would listen to, to imprint its rich and yet sparingly simple tunes on my memory.

I actually wrote this review in 2003, before Katrina. After the storm, pieces like "Basin Street Blues" and "Do You know What It Means To Miss New Orleans" mean even more than they did before. Many good albums have been recorded to benefit the city and its musical community; please purchase them and support a good cause. But please also listen to this album with a new understanding of what we as Americans (as well as the rest of the world) stand to loose if this city and its priceless musical heritage are lost. Vive la Nouvelle Orleans! December 25, 2003

20

IT WAS VERY DISAPPOINTING. IT COULD HARDLY HAVE BEEN MORE
AMATEURISH. IN MY OPINION, HE IS AN OUTSTANDING ARTIST. IF
I HAD HEARD THIS CD PRIOR, I WOULD NOT HAVE CONSIDERED
PURCHASING IT. ALTHOUGH THE PIANO IS PLEASANT, THE VOCALS
ARE AWFUL. July 14, 2003

20 Out of 10!

This is still one of my favorite albums from Harry Connick, Jr. My other favorites are Songs I Heard, We Are In Love, and When Harry Met Sally.

For me, Harry sounds best playing a New Orleans swing sound, rather than the fusion and guitar stuff on his later albums. Harry is at his best when he sounds more like Louis Prima or Louis Armstrong, two of my all time favorites for the genre. I wish he would recognize that he has a fan base that looks to him for this kind of music.

I recently saw Harry at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA, and he put on a great show, although he did linger a bit too much on some of the guitar based stuff. I can listen to anybody play guitar, but no one can play good jazz and make it swing like Harry - when he wants to! August 22, 2002

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