The most striking aspect of Harry Connick Jr.’s tribute to Cole Porter, True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter, is the direct sensuality of Porter’s songs. Connick recognizes this and offers this about one of the album’s prime examples, “All of You” – “so sexy that it simply had to be interpreted as sensually as possible.” Yes, several of these tunes made this writer do a double-take when hearing lyrics like these in that song –“I’d love to make a tour of you/The eyes, the arms, the mouth of you/The east, west, north and the south of you.” The art of that kind of writing is to paint an incredibly inviting picture without resorting to any crudity; maintaining a level of class and elegance.
Porter’s songs, of course, are synonymous with the Great American Songbook and have been interpreted by other artists countless times. Connick Jr. not only finds the deep romanticism in these gems, he enriches them. To be fair, Sinatra and Crosby did it too, but Connick Jr. does much more than just sing in this project. He also plays piano, arranges the songs and conducts his big band and on seven tracks blends with a large string ensemble, comprising a total of 40 musicians.
Porter’s body of work, composed primarily for Broadway and Hollywood, is renowned for theatrical nuances, sophistication, wit, and musical complexity. Connick Jr. comments, “A few things about Cole Porter stood out. He was one of the few who wrote both words and music, his lyrics were witty and conveyed multiple meanings, he would break rules with melodies and chords, and he could write songs for specific situations in shows and movies and could then take on a life of their own. It became clear that he was my number one.”
While Connick Jr. had enough Porter material to do five albums, he culled the songs into a baker’s dozen, choosing not only the popular songs but some that were lesser-known too. Three of the songs – “Mind If I Make Love to You,” “You’re Sensational” and the title track “True Love” – come from Porter’s last great score for the 1956 film High Society, wherein he composed for three different artists, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra. “Mind If I Make Love to You” may be the most obscure track while “True Love” had such a spare set of lyrics and was so short in its original form that he extended it from a slow waltz to a medium-tempo 4/4 groove. He rearranged some others too, most notably “Just One of Those Things,” taken down a couple of notches from its usual racetrack tempo but still swinging.
Connick Jr. still considers himself as an evolving artist. He realizes he has more control and range as a vocalist and is beyond the “trying to make a great impression by showing off” mentality. His thrust now is to merge his artistry with accessibility. This project was especially challenging though. After selecting the songs and writing and orchestrating the arrangements, he assembled and conducted a big band comprised mostly of long-time cohorts, then moved to another studio to conduct the strings, and then took the final step by entering the recording booth and laying down the vocal tracks, singing each song twice, in alphabetical order. His careful, methodical approach comes through but he doesn’t lack a bit of emotion either; he lives and breathes these songs.
Connick Jr., of course, learned how to play the piano from New Orleans masters like Allen Toussaint and James Booker but there are only faint traces of that lineage here, excepting his piano solo on “Begin the Beguine” described as a merger of Oscar Peterson and Professor Longhair. Connick Jr. confesses to it being “about the hardest thing I’ve ever played.”
Connick Jr.’s arrangements are superbly executed, but more than anything else, they tend to frame Porter’s lyrics that range from directly simple and on the mark to witty and rather unpredictable phrases like this from “You’re Sensational” – “I don’t care if you are called/The fair Miss Frigidaire/’Cause you’re sensational…”Making love is quite an art/What you require /Is the proper squire/ To fire your heart.” In today’s age when the airwaves are filled with bland songs like “I Love Your Body,” it’s refreshing to hear Porter’s sophisticated takes on similar subject matter. Connick Jr. does a splendid job in interpreting his material.
One Response
I am wondering if you listened to the same album that I did. I am not much of a fan of Cole Porter but a bigger fan of Harry Connick Jr. but this album is NOT a celebration of Porter. If you are changing words that Cole Porter wrote from the very first song, not to mention the horribly cliche use of horn section accents throughout the album, then just call it what it is. It should be called “My attempt at jazz arrangement, using too big of an orchestra for my knowledge, CLICHE HORN ACCENTS, over use of opposite tempo, Let’s see if this works…” Album.
listening to this on the way to work made me Mad, and again, I’m not even a fan of Cole Porter, but he deserves more respect than this.
This album is self indulgent.