Only You (CD - 2004)

Personnel: Harry Connick, Jr. (vocals, conductor, piano); James Greene, Charles Goold (alto saxophone); Jerry Weldon, Mike Karn (tenor saxophone); Dave Schumacher (baritone saxophone); Roger Ingram, Derrick Gardner, Leroy Jones, Joe Magnarelli (trumpet); Mark Mullins, Joe Barati, Craig Klein, John Allred (trombone); Neal Caine (bass); Arthur latin II (drums); Paulinho Da Costa, Alex Acuna (percussion).

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California in 2003.

Personnel: Harry Connick, Jr. (vocals, piano); George Doering (guitar); Bruce Dukov (violin, strings); Dennis Karmazyn (cello); Endre Granat (strings); James Greene, Charles "Ned" Goold (alto saxophone); Jerry Weldon, Jimmy Greene (tenor saxophone); David Schumacher (baritone saxophone); Derrick Gardner, Joe Magnarelli, Roger Ingram (trumpet); John Allred, Mark Mullins (trombone); Joe Barati (bass trombone); Arthur Latin (drums); Alex Acuña, Paulinho Da Costa (percussion).

Audio Mixer: Gregg Rubin.

Liner Note Author: Harry Connick, Jr.

Recording information: Capitoal Studios, Hollywood, CA (05/13/2003-05/22/2003).

Photographer: Palma Kolansky.

Arranger: Harry Connick, Jr.

Featuring ballads from the '50s and '60s, Only You finds vocalist/pianist Harry Connick, Jr. further developing his contemporary crooner aesthetic. Having begun his career covering popular songs from the '20s through the '40s, it's surprising that Connick never before explored tunes from the baby boomer era. In some ways, it's almost as if he skipped the period altogether, moving from the '40s to the '70s between 1992's 25, his last jazz standards album, and 1994's She, his move to funk and pop. It was a jarring creative leap that many fans found too far to make with him. It's pleasing then, that Connick has found ways to incorporate his love of the Great American Songbook and straight-ahead jazz in a style that harks back to jazz's golden era without being retro. Only You showcases this, soaring on Connick's sophisticated and classy arrangements of such popular tunes as "I Only Have Eyes for You," "Save the Last Dance for Me," and "More." From his cinematic bossa nova take of "My Blue Heaven," replete with pizzicato string backgrounds, to his inspirational gospel-inflected version of "For Once in My Life," Connick's vision for these classic songs is singular and fresh. ~ Matt Collar

In the liner notes of ONLY YOU, crooner Harry Connick tells how the impetus for the album was Columbia honcho Donny Ienner's request for the singer to record some songs from Ienner's youth (1950s/'60s hits). Whether this was an entreaty or an ultimatum, Connick sagely turned it to his advantage, inching up a decade or two from his usual selection process and cherry-picking some of the finest tunes from that era (even if a couple were originally written decades earlier). Connick breaks some new stylistic ground too, dipping into the country songbook ("You Don't Know Me") and even slipping into doo-wop territory ("I Only Have Eyes for You" and the title track").

The most impressive thing about ONLY YOU is that instead of twisting himself into a stylistic pretzel in order to accommodate these varied modes, Connick artfully reinvents these tunes (not only as vocalist, but as arranger/conductor) to suit his own Sinatra-influenced pop/jazz style. His treatment of the aforementioned "I Only Have Eyes for You," for example, brings out the inherent spectral qualities of the song, turning it into an ethereal tour de force for his moody arrangement and cool vocal. Throughout the album, Connick manages to turn such tricks consistently, proving himself an able interpreter of more than one chapter in the Great American Songbook. minimize