Harry Connick, Jr. - Harry For The Holidays

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 63:37
Size: 145.6 MB
Styles: Holiday
Year: 2003
Art: Front

[3:31] 1. Frosty The Snowman
[3:20] 2. Blue Christmas
[3:15] 3. The Christmas Waltz
[3:04] 4. I Wonder As I Wander
[3:55] 5. Silver Bells
[5:08] 6. Mary's Little Boy Child
[3:53] 7. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
[3:39] 8. The Happy Elf
[5:55] 9. I'll Be Home For Christmas
[4:39] 10. I Come With Love
[3:46] 11. Nature Boy
[3:20] 12. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
[3:25] 13. I'm Gonna Be The First One
[3:43] 14. This Christmas
[4:04] 15. Nothin' New For New Year
[4:51] 16. Silent Night

Ten years after his first holiday-themed album, When My Heart Finds Christmas, pianist/vocalist Harry Connick, Jr. found the spirit again with Harry for the Holidays. Still centered on Connick's vocals, this foray into "tinsel tunes" is more jazz oriented than his 1993 release and allows for his growth as a performer, arranger, and conductor. Like a Brooks Brothers' suit worn at Mardi Gras, Connick's writing for his big band and full orchestra mixes New Orleans rhythms with crisp, swinging arrangements that call to mind '60s Michel Legrand and Quincy Jones. Nothing Connick has done before can quite prepare you for the screaming trumpets and rollicking second-line-style swing of his leadoff take on "Frosty the Snowman." In fact, most of the classic standards here, including "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Silver Bells," get highly unexpected treatments as on "Santa Clause Is Coming to Town," which is worked up into a funky, brass-band "go-go" dance number. Similarly tasty is "I'll Be Home for Christmas," which not only features some of the best crooning the Will and Grace star has ever done, but also a beautifully modest Count Basie-inspired piano solo. There is also an appealing balance to Harry for the Holidays between songs of Christmas nostalgia and heartfelt ruminations on what the season means in a deeper sense. Throw in four original compositions that touch on Scott Walker-esque orchestrated pop, Tin Pan Alley songcraft, and country -- yes, that is the George Jones dueting with Connick on "Nothin' New for the New Year" -- and not only do you have one of the best holiday albums in years, but easily the best album of Connick's career. [Harry for the Holidays was reissued in 2005 as a dual disc CD/DVD with additional audio tracks, video clips and an interview on the DVD side.] ~Matt Collar

Harry For The Holidays

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Harry Connick, Jr. - Alone With My Faith

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:44
Size: 134,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:54) 1. Alone With My Faith
(3:33) 2. Because He Lives
(4:19) 3. Be Not Afraid
(3:42) 4. Benevolent Man
(4:51) 5. Amazing Grace
(5:50) 6. The Old Rugged Cross
(3:58) 7. How Great Thou Art
(5:34) 8. God And My Gospel
(4:03) 9. Old Time Religion
(4:28) 10. All These Miracles
(3:47) 11. Look Who I Found
(4:53) 12. Thank You For Waiting (For Me)
(2:47) 13. Panis Angelicus

Harry Connick, Jr. spotlights his spirituality as well as his adept multi-instrumental chops on his intimate 2021 album Alone with My Faith, recorded on his own while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic (with some mixing and production assistance by Tracey Freeman). Connick has recorded big band, small group, and orchestral albums in the past, not to mention his work on Broadway. Here, he adds yet another genre to his resumé, interpreting traditional hymns and gospel songs alongside similarly soulful originals. It's not quite as easy a fit as his past ventures, but Connick achieves some transcendent moments on the record, thanks in no small part to his omnipresent virtuosity, playing every instrument on every track. You might expect that an album Connick recorded in isolation would be a pared-down affair featuring little more than his voice and a trusty old piano, but he proves to be a pretty self-sufficient one-man band, performing keys, horns, guitar, percussion, and backing harmonies. Connick's aw-shucks brand of charisma has often shined best on standards of the American pop tradition, making Alone with My Faith something of an unexpected side-step. This album feels more in line with his forays into Stevie Wonder-esque soul and pop on 1996's Star Turtle and 2015's That Would Be Me. It's a facet of his repertoire that feels joyful and exuberant, even if it's not perhaps the best use of his charming sincerity as a performer. From the '80s drum machine on the title track to the analog synths of "Thank You For Waiting (For Me)," the vintage R&B sound that pervades much of the album clearly holds a place in his heart, and it grows on you as he moves from track to track. Meanwhile, the gospel organ and twangy guitar of songs like "That Old Rugged Cross" and "Old Time Religion" conjure a rousing, Ray Charles-like old-timeyness that fits squarely in Connick's wheelhouse.~ Matt Collar https://www.allmusic.com/album/alone-with-my-faith-mw0003478816

Alone With My Faith

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Harry Connick, Jr. - Occasion

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:04
Size: 150,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:40)  1. Brown World
(5:13)  2. Valentine's Day
(3:00)  3. Occasion
(5:56)  4. Spot
(5:05)  5. I Like Love More
(5:56)  6. All Things
(6:03)  7. Win
(4:10)  8. Virgoid
(7:07)  9. Remember The Tarpon
(5:50) 10. Lose
(3:15) 11. Steve Lacy
(2:16) 12. Chanson Du Vieux Carre
(6:25) 13. Good To Be Home

While singer/pianist Harry Connick Jr.'s opening performance at this year's Ottawa International Jazz Festival was entertaining in a lightweight kind of way, his two shows the following evening were the most revealing. On this world premiere, and two of only three live performances with his lifelong friend, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, Connick debuted material from Occasion: Connick on Piano 2, an even greater departure from his more widely-accepted crooner image than his '03 Marsalis Music release, Other Hours: Connick on Piano 1. Other Hours was a solid showcase for Connick as a pianist and composer in a group context, but Occasion puts him in the more inherently risky environment of the duo, where there's no safety net and both players are completely exposed. Recorded over three days earlier this year, it was originally intended to combine a handful of duet recordings with Marsalis with whom Connick has played on occasion over the years, most recently on Marsalis' Romare Bearden Revealed with a series of solo piano pieces. But the bond between the two players was so strong that Connick supplemented the pieces brought to the session with further writing done on the fly, and Marsalis ultimately contributed two pieces of his own the appropriately titled "Steve Lacy and the more traditionally-informed title track. 

It's often said that a player's personality is reflected in their music, and when I had the opportunity to see Connick in performance with Marsalis, his levity and often dry humour were in clear evidence throughout. Refreshingly, Connick's roots aren't in the post-Evans school of musical thought; rather, he comes directly and equally from the idiosyncratically irreverent Thelonious Monk and the behind-the-beat stride work of Erroll Garner. While Connick is capable of elegance and delicacy, as he demonstrates on the poignant "I Like Love More, a touch of classical influence on "Valentine's Day, and even a certain degree of abstraction on the dark-hued "Chanson Du Vieux Carre, he's generally more disposed towards a weightier but never overbearing touch. You can almost hear his New Orleans drawl on the bluesy "Good to Be Home and the modernized ragtime of "Spot. As in their live performance, the simpatico between Connick and Marsalis is palpable. Marsalis, always a versatile player, demonstrates a different side to his own roots on "Win and "Lose, which are two sides of the same coin sharing a theme but demonstrating just how far apart two takes on essentially the same piece can be. While Marsalis remains perhaps closer to the centre than in his own work, his ability to play tag team with Connick results in a surprising unpredictability throughout. During the first Ottawa show, Connick bemoaned how he's always wanted to be the pianist in Branford's band. Occasion may not make a strong case for him in that context, but it certainly presents a picture of him as a far more diversely capable player than fans of his crooner material and even his previous instrumental albums could possibly imagine. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/occasion-connick-on-piano-2-harry-connick-jr-marsalis-music-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Harry Connick Jr. (piano); Branford Marsalis (tenor and soprano saxophones)

Occasion

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VA - Sleepless In Seattle

Styles: Soundtrack
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:26
Size: 84,8 MB
Art: Front

 1. Jimmy Durante - As Time Goes By (2:27)
 2. Louis Armstrong - A Kiss To Build A Dream On (3:01)
 3. Nat King Cole - Stardust (3:14)
 4. Dr. John & Ricky Lee Jones - Makin' Whoopee (4:08)
 5. Carly Simon - In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning (3:15)
 6. Gene Autry - Back In The Saddle Again (2:35)
 7. Joe Cocker - Bye Bye Blackbird (3:29)
 8. Harry Connick, Jr. - A Wink And A Smile (2:47)
 9. Tammy Wynette - Stand By Your Man (2:41)
10. Soundtrack - An Affair To Remember (2:31)
11. Jimmy Durante - Make Someone Happy (1:52)
12. Celine Dion & Clive Griffin - When I Fall In Love (4:21)

Sleepless in Seattle is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and co-written by Nora Ephron, based on a story by Jeff Arch. It stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, alongside a supporting cast featuring Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, Rob Reiner, Rosie O'Donnell, Gaby Hoffmann, Victor Garber, and Rita Wilson. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $220 million worldwide.  After Chicago architect Sam Baldwin loses his wife Maggie to cancer, he and his eight-year-old son Jonah start a new life in Seattle, Washington, but Sam continues to grieve. A year and a half later, on Christmas Eve 1992, Jonah who wants his father to find a new wife calls in to a radio talk show. Jonah persuades a reluctant Sam to go on the air to talk about how much he misses Maggie. Hundreds of women from around the country who hear the program and are touched by the story write to Sam. One of the listeners is Annie Reed, a Baltimore Sun reporter who is engaged to amiable Walter but feels there is something missing from their cordial relationship. After watching the film An Affair to Remember, Annie impulsively writes a letter suggesting that Sam meet her on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. She does not intend to mail it, but her friend and editor Becky does it for her and agrees to send Annie to Seattle.

Sam begins dating a co-worker Victoria, whom Jonah dislikes. Jonah, a baseball fan, reads Annie's letter and likes that it mentions the Baltimore Orioles, but he fails to convince his father to go to New York to meet Annie. On the advice of his playmate Jessica, Jonah replies to Annie, agreeing to the New York meeting. While dropping Victoria off at the airport for a flight, Sam sees Annie exiting from her plane and is mesmerized by her, although he has no idea who she is. Annie later secretly watches Sam and Jonah playing on the beach together but mistakes Sam's sister for his girlfriend. He recognizes her from the airport and says "Hello," but Annie only responds with another "Hello" before fleeing. She decides she is being foolish and goes to New York to meet Walter for Valentine's Day. With Jessica's help, Jonah flies to New York without his father's permission and goes to the Empire State Building searching for Annie. Distraught, Sam follows Jonah and finds him on the observation deck. Meanwhile, Annie sees the skyscraper from the Rainbow Room where she is dining with Walter and confesses her doubts to him, amicably ending their engagement. She rushes to the Empire State Building just moments after the doors to the down elevator close with Sam and Jonah inside. In spite of the observation deck being deserted, Annie discovers a backpack that Jonah left behind. As she pulls out Jonah's teddy bear from the backpack, Sam and Jonah emerge from the elevator, and the three meet for the first time. On the advice of the elevator operator, Sam indicates they should go and offers his hand to Annie. The three then enter the elevator together before the door closes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepless_in_Seattle

Sleepless In Seattle

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Harry Connick, Jr. - Oh, My Nola

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:38
Size: 152,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:39)  1. Working In The Coal Mine
(3:58)  2. Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?
(3:26)  3. Something You Got
(5:03)  4. Let Them Talk
(3:41)  5. Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
(4:16)  6. Careless Love
(4:14)  7. All These People
(4:32)  8. Yes We Can Can
(2:41)  9. Someday
(3:59) 10. Oh, My Nola
(4:45) 11. Elijah Rock
(4:59) 12. Sheik Of Araby
(3:50) 13. Lazy Bones
(3:31) 14. We Make A Lot Of Love
(4:26) 15. Hello Dolly
(5:32) 16. Do Dat Thing

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in the summer of 2005, musician Harry Connick, Jr. was one of the first people to lend not only his celebrity, but also his own two hands in aid to the survivors of the catastrophe. Connick brought a television crew with him as he traveled through his damaged hometown and shot footage to help draw attention to the situation. Soon after, he organized the benefit telethon A Concert for Hurricane Relief on NBC to raise money for the beleaguered residents of New Orleans. It was clear through all of this that Connick truly loved his hometown and perhaps even felt he owed the city a debt for all it had given to him. In that light, though he tastefully underplays his feelings about the tragedy, Connick's Oh, My Nola is clearly his response to Hurricane Katrina. But rather than making a one-note album filled with anger and sadness though he expresses those emotions here, too Oh, My Nola feels at once like a party-driven celebration of all that is New Orleans and a love letter to the city he almost lost. Featuring songs from, of, and about New Orleans, Oh, My Nola touches on almost every musical style that has come from the city and, in a similar sense, every style Connick has delved into over the years. For that reason it's both his most expansive and personal album to date, and finally finds the pianist/vocalist/arranger coalescing his eclectic tastes in jazz standards, stride piano, funk, Cajun, gospel, and contemporary pop under a unified vision that not surprisingly takes him back to the roots of New Orleans music.

To these ends, he turns Allen Toussaint and Lee Dorsey's classic R&B cut "Working in the Coal Mine" into a swaggeringly funky big-band workout. Similarly inventive, he does Hughie Cannon's traditional "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?" as a second-line-inspired big-band swing number reminiscent of his own When Harry Met Sally soundtrack. But while these numbers showcase Connick's obvious talent for arranging and crafting large ensemble numbers, other cuts such as the traditional "Careless Love" reveal his more laid-back, country-inflected barroom piano style that recalls his early solo albums 20 and 25. Mixing this approach, Connick once again returns to Toussaint with the spiritual and motivational "Yes We Can" in a loping and funky, large-ensemble style. Always a student of American popular song, it's no surprise that Connick's original compositions stand up next to the classic tracks here; however, it's also on these originals that he moves toward expressing his anger over what happened to the city. On the half-improvised, stark, and funky "All These People" Connick sings, "I was so damn scared I held hands and wandered with the crazy man, but he wasn't crazy and I wasn't scared/We were just brothers that stood there and stared at all those people waiting there." 

It's one of the few moments of outright protest on the album and deftly conveys Connick's first-hand account of post-hurricane New Orleans. However, listening to the whole of Oh, My Nola, it becomes clear that the true protest Connick is concerned with is a protest of the soul against events that conspire to erase all that we hold dear. This is best expressed in Connick's own title track. Set to a simple midtempo traditional New Orleans jazz beat, he sings, "How proud would Louie and Mahalia be, to know that their memory was safe with me?/Oh, my Nola, old and true and strong just like a tall magnolia tree/Sit me in the shade and I'm right where I belong/Oh, my New Orleans, wait for me." ~ Matt Collar https://www.allmusic.com/album/oh-my-nola-mw0000554122                 

Oh, My Nola

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Harry Connick, Jr. - Harry Connick, Jr.

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1987
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:02
Size: 89,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:13)  1. Love is Here to Stay
(5:51)  2. Little Clown
(1:36)  3. Zealousy
(3:26)  4. Sunny Side of the Street
(5:25)  5. I Mean You
(5:04)  6. Vocation
(5:03)  7. On Green Dolphin Street
(4:15)  8. Little Waltz
(4:04)  9. E

Harry Connick, Jr.'s first Columbia album features him mostly playing stride piano solos in a style heavily influenced by Thelonious Monk. Bassist Ron Carter drops by for a duet on his own "Little Waltz" while "E" finds Connick welcoming bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Herman Riley. The instrumental set is generally colorful even if Connick's timing was not too steady at this point. Standards alternate with forgotten originals with the highlights being "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "I Mean You" and "On Green Dolphin Street." ~ ScottYanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/harry-connick-jr-mw0000651529

Solo performer: Harry Connick, Jr. (vocals, piano).

Harry Connick, Jr.

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Harry Connick Jr. - That Would Be Me

Styles: Vocal, Pop&Rock
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:51
Size: 92,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:33)  1. (I Like It When You) Smile
(3:47)  2. (I Do) Like We Do
(4:24)  3. Tryin' to Matter
(3:34)  4. Songwriter
(3:06)  5. Do You Really Need Her
(3:57)  6. You Don't Need a Man
(3:37)  7. You Have No Idea
(3:30)  8. Where Prisoners Drown
(3:08)  9. (I Think I) Love You a Little Bit
(3:55) 10. Every Time I Fall In Love
(3:16) 11. Right Where It Hurts

That Would Be Me is something of an ironic title for this 2015 album, considering how it's a relatively radical overhaul of Harry Connick, Jr.'s sound. Squalls of New Orleans horns can be felt (if not always heard); there are hints of R&B and gospel; his piano is seductive enough to flirt with the louche and, as always, Connick has a way with a ballad, easing into the slower tempos without ever seeming lazy. In this respect, That Would Be Me is recognizably a Harry Connick, Jr. record. Thing is, there's the production an unapologetically brash pop blast, orchestrated separately by Butch Walker and Eg White. Both producers have recorded with P!nk, and Walker, like Connick, has a background in music reality TV Walker got there before Connick, working on the legendary 2006 series Rock Star: Supernova but White's modern pop is a better touchstone for Connick's album than Walker's rock. 

Connick largely skirts the tastefulness of Adele and Will Young, however, allowing himself to indulge in both cheerfully robust rockers ("[I Like It When You] Smile") and cornball soft rock ("Songwriter"). Sometimes the slick textures and electric pianos evoke the golden age of Yacht Rock, but Connick is up to something clever, letting the rhythms hit with the force (if not the precise style) of hip-hop-infused R&B, and glossing the whole proceedings in a crisp, reflective sheen so it winds up reinforcing either his sly pop classicism or modern wit, depending on the listener's point of view. This savvy swing is the key to the success of That Would Be Me, because Connick winds up expanding his horizons without selling out his musical aesthetic. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine  http://www.allmusic.com/album/that-would-be-me-mw0002882706

That Would Be Me

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