HARRY CONNICK, JR.
Songs I Heard and 30
Columbia
Those of you who were wondering where Harry Connick, Jr. has been these past several years will be pleased to know that he has released not one, but two new albums of music. They are about as dissimilar from each other as you can get. Songs I Heard is full of timeless children's tunes, like "A Spoonful of Sugar" and "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead." 30 is Connick at a lone piano, tickling the ivories to songs such as "If I Were A Bell" and "Chattanooga Choo Choo."
Connick is a non-stop machine of music making, turning out a new CD every year. In 1996 and 1997 he gave us She and Star Turtle, respectively, a vast departure from his typical Dixieland jazz into contemporary light rock. That met with very little applause, so also in 1997 he rushed out a collection of ballads on the CD To See You. In 1998 he brought forth the refreshing Come By Me and then in 2000 was the obligatory Christmas collection, When My Heart Finds Christmas. For a while he took on some minor acting roles, wrote a Broadway musical called Thou Shalt Not (which, despite the direction of Broadway hot-shot Susan Stroman has failed to win any rave reviews), and now cranked out these two albums. Suffice to say, he has been one busy guy.
But the latest CDs leave one to think that his constant barrage of works has stretched his talent a little too thin. There is so much of his music to consider over the past four years that it blends together and nothing stands out. It is a nearly impossible feat to wow audiences as often as Connick may hope with all these CDs, and instead of releasing so many, it might have been wiser to condense them to one or two really superb albums.
On both CDs he displays his versatile charm as a musician, offering up new and at times exciting takes on standards that are classic and some that aren't as well known. Songs I Heard is arguably the more enjoyable of the two new discs, as far as pure fun goes. Connick's arrangement of "Pure Imagination" and "The Candy Man" (both from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) into one medley is exquisite. He preserves the sacred memories of the song to children of my generation who know it from the movie, but lends his warm vocals and java jazz "oomph" so that it may be an update for the youngsters of today. More than likely, though, the song will most ring sentimental with the former, people like me and my brother who grew up on the Frank Wildhorn tune and will be pleased to hear Connick's rendition, which humbly honors the classic. He also cites other Willy Wonka songs "Golden Ticket" and the "Oompa Loompa" chant.
No kids' album would be complete without a Disney song or two, so he brings forth the Mary Poppins standards "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "A Spoonful of Sugar." The rollicking jazz instrumentations and Louis Armstrong-like vocalist backups give the song the bouncy "coolness" and funk trademark of Connick's home state, Louisiana. Also covered on the CD are three songs from the musical Annie (no, not "Tomorrow" thankfully), two from The Sound of Music and a couple of The Wizard of Oz numbers. It's all very enjoyable, with the small exception that it would have been a real treat to hear him take on a more recent Disney tune (post-The Little Mermaid), but I digress.
30 is a completely different effort altogether. Just like 1992's 25 and 1988's 20, Connick is at his most vunerable, playing the piano and singing the songs with very little, and often nil, accompaniment. It's not until the fifth cut, Frank Loesser's "If I Were A Bell" that a bass finds its way into the background. It's a much more low-key and honest exhibition of Connick's talent as a musician, and a more mature album at that. The boogie numbers like the Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'" and Cole Porter's "Don't Fence Me In," maintain the traditionalist goal that Connick sets out to do.
Connick, most likely isn't planning on winning any new listeners from the under 40-year-old age group with this (unless they are already fans, such as myself), therefore this CD would settle better with folks in the older age groups. It would be unfair of me to pan this CD due to my lack of appreciation for this music within, but one thing is clear - Connick is a gifted musician, and he knows what he's doing.
It's no coincidence that Songs I Heard and 30 are released at the same time. On the one hand, they show Connick's diverse talents at two extremely opposite forms of musical performance. On the other hand, one album shows the kid that's still alive and well inside Connick and his appreciation of magnificent music, while the other collection shows that he is still growing as a musician after all these years. In both cases, he pays homage to the ones that came before him, a musical thank-you letter to the masters who inspired him to play.
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