It's not every day an established, reputable, and masterful artist releases new material that reveals a completely new musical direction. And when it does happen, the results are not always palatable.
Nevermind about any of that here.
Harry Connick, Jr. has made a musical career out of keeping the crooning tradition established by the Sinatra's, Martin's, and Darin's going strong. His first musical offerings were most definitely cut from that same cloth: big band swing and orchestral jazz. Connick has since occasionally diverged, and in impressive fashion most every time: anywhere from New Orleans funk with Star Turtle & She to hardcore jazz with Occasion & After Hours (alongside the indomitable Brandford Marsalis).
But Connick's newest release seems simultaneously new and a-long-time-in-coming. The crooning is there (along with a special note on the CD's linear notes that no digital vocal correction was employed on the recording - a claim easily believed considering from where it comes), but so is a certain - dare I say - pop sensibility. Now, I don't mean "pop" in terms of Top 40 radio nonsense. But, this album certainly draws from more mainstream genres than a fan might be accustomed to hearing from Harry - gospel, New Orleans street, and jazz are here, sure. But so are acousta-pop vibes, soul grooves, and.... get ready for it... country stylings. There are tracks here that make one think of what younger artists the likes of John Mayer and Justin Timberlake are trying to achieve, but driven by the prodigy & wizardry of a musician/composer almost without peer on the modern music scene.
Put simply, the result is that Connick still manages to do it better than everyone else. Nothing new about that, to be sure, but what a pleasant and enjoyable surprise this CD turned out to be - even for a lifelong fan with more than a dozen previous Connick records in his collection.
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