NICK DERISO: Funny thing about that modern-day romantic Harry Connick Jr.: Before this decade-old release, he hadn’t ever explored a song cycle about, and only about, love.
Oh, Connick would take his shots, now and then. But always with a dash of popcraft crooning, light New Orleans funk or swash-buckling swing music following hard on its heels.
“To See You,” however, is more in keeping with the great tradition of Sinatra theme albums of the 1950s. There is, as with those earlier triumphs, a consistency of tempo and feel. But rather than plumb the well-worn pages of the American songbook, Connick writes, arranges and orchestrates 10 new tunes.
He seems to understand that a meaningful moment of passion requires dashes of originality: “If we borrow words, they’ll have to be returned,” Connick sings on “Let’s Just Kiss” (embedded below). “We won’t have to try, somehow we’ll just know. A thousand years before us led to this.”
In a way, it did. “To See You” is old school, but never exactly old. It’s also one of Connick’s most complete returns to the (then-largely jazz-focused) artistry he abandoned in a bid for popular attention beginning in the late 1980s.
Connick’s subtly imaginative acoustic quartet — tenor man Charles “Ned” Goold, drummer Arthur “Bam Bam” Latin and (longtime Marsalis family) bassist Reginald Veal — provide an appropriate friction (we are talking about relationships, after all) amidst this lush orchestra of seasoned L.A. sessions men.
That led to a sophisticated album, one that tried to talk not just about the way we love, but also about the way we long, and the way we regret lost love. There are exes with a “Heart Beyond Repair” — “unrequited, not renowned; never sought and never found” — as well as uncertain new acquaintances who “Love Me Some You,” and mature objects of affection who find themselves “In Love Again.” The title track was a complex and (not surprisingly) rejected theme for the film “One Fine Day.”
Connick transforms into a restrained delight, never slipping into the over-the-top vocal and piano-playing bombast that sometimes marred his more mainstream efforts. “Heart” is a seductive but understated moment for the four-piece group; “Learn to Live” speaks to his Louisiana roots; tunes like “Love Me Some You” and “Much Love” dip like a midnight adagio — swirling into this swinging noir.
That kind of moody romanticism, notable for its lack of showiness, has a timeless tone that so many of Connick’s higher-charting recordings lacked. “To See You” has aged remarkably well; in fact, it’s one of his very best efforts.
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