Harry Connick Jr
Every Man Should Know
Columbia **
Has Harry Connick Jr’s art suffered in the fame game? Well, I’ll leave that for you to decide. It’s been ages since he has produced anything that has really stirred the jazz imagination although that’s not troubling the download-loving wider public, and Every Man Should Know has already topped the French,  US, Canadian and Australian iTunes charts. Its official CD release in the UK has to wait for a few more weeks. Connick sings his own songs, something he hasn’t done much since the late-1990s, and while truth be told the songs are no great shakes, there’s plenty of interest in the gospellised raucousness of New Orleans on ‘S’pposed to Be’. The cocktail bossa motion of ‘I Love Her’ isn’t great though even if the Hoagy Carmichael-like ‘Being Alone’ lifts the album a bit. The opening tracks are the big downer, like the interior of a disappointingly over sugared chocolate box selection the sickly title track especially. The ebb and flow and rhythmic tug of ‘Greatest Love Story’ is attractive but there are precious few glimpses here of why Connick appealed in the first place. A case of back to the drawing board, surely?
Stephen Graham