Only You

Performer: Harry Connick Jr.
Artist: Paulinho Da Costa; Alex Acuna
Engineer: Gregg Rubin
Producer: Tracey Freeman
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: 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. 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.

Harry Connick, Jr. is an accomplished singer, pianist, and actor who emerged in the late 1980s as a Sinatra-style crooner for a new generation. As a musician, his influences include bebop, New Orleans jazz, and big-band swing. His score for the film WHEN HARRY MET SALLY brought him national acclaim and an Oscar. He subsequently appeared in a number of films, and made forays into pop music.

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