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Harry makes playing the piano sound easy, as if the music just happens when he waves his fingers over the keys. The lyrics pour out effortlessly, melting from despair and sorrow (If I only Had a Brain) to longing (Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans) to playful indifference (Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me). The man is simply a musical genius. And he did this when he was twenty!

This is classic old New Orleans - as if you wandered into a sleepy Bourbon Street bar after hours in 1940. Just thinking about it makes me woozy for a strong shoulder to rest my head against as we slowly sway across a small dance floor in a smokey club.

You don't even have to like jazz to love this album. After one listen, I bought everything else he had, then went through my dad's old Sinatra albums.

Buy this album or spend the rest of your days knowing you have no appreciation for the finer things in life.


Essential Harry   December 24, 2003
Ayn McLaurin (Atlanta, GA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

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!


20 Out of 10!   August 22, 2002
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

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!


A Great Classic Jazz CD   May 13, 1999
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is a wonderful CD filled with new & classic songs. Harry is an amazing artist, and EVERY CD he records, from Funk to Jazz to Big Band, is fun, innovative and has style.


smooth sweet voice   November 26, 1998
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

this was my first "harry" album... and i loved it. I'm hooked. This has music from opposite ends of the spectrum. Slow, fast and everything in between. Definitely a must have....