Tamiko and I first heard Paolo Conte in the movie ‘A Couch In New York’ where ‘Via Con Me’ is used a couple of times as a mood setter. A greatest hits collection came out here in the US a couple years after the movie and I was able to pick up a promo of it. The rest of the disc mostly consisted of cool vocal jazz standards mostly in Italian with smatterings of English here and there… but it was all fun. There are a couple songs on this disc that are dangerous to listen to though. ‘Happy Feet’ WILL get stuck in your head… ‘Boogie’ probably will as well, and since it is mostly in Italian I usually just find myself phonetically making up words to go along with the song. Until the chorus:

HAPPY FEET! DADADA HAPPY FEET! DADADA HAPPY FEET! OH OH I LOVE YAH!

What is he singing about? The chorus doesn’t even make sense! But it doesn’t really matter… so much of his music is driving and infectious, and when there are words that are familiar I feel like I just need to sing along with them.

Whenever I hear him I tend to think about ‘Couch In New York’ which really is a sweet movie. Or rather, I think about me and Tamiko cuddled up on a couch watching it. So I think it is kind of funny that the other artist tonight (who was next to Paolo Conte on the shelf) was Harry Connick Jr. And of course I am talking about ‘When Harry Met Sally’ which takes me back to the earliest years of me and Tamiko dating. We have always been home bodies, and prefer PJs and a movie to going out (especially once we had our own place!). And for New Years Eve, we had a tradition for some time of watching ‘When Harry Met Sally’ up to midnight. I imagine I would have liked Harry Connick Jr. even if he hadn’t done the soundtrack to the movie, but he adds so much to it that I know I liked him more because of his association to it. There is a nostalgia for an older New York in his Sinatra-esque earlier style, and as ‘complicated’ as the story for ‘When Harry Met Sally’ seems to be, it is really very simple and elegant (much like the older couples who are telling their stories throughout the movie).

The three albums I ripped tonight were ‘We Are In Love’, ‘Lofty’s Roach Souffle’ and  ‘Red Light, Blue Light’. ‘We Are In Love’ really does seem to try to be a Sinatra record, even down to the Nelson Riddle sounding orchestra in the background. Not much of the New Orleans Harry Connick shows up on this disk. But it is actually a smaller group recording of ‘It’s Alright With Me’ that I think is the stand out track on the disc. Russell Malone has a great role in the tune… starting off with a great strumming accompaniment that leads into a pretty hot guitar solo that is reminiscent of Atlantic Records John Coltrane. Then Shannon Powell and Ben Wolfe trade some short bars between each other before Harry Connick gets his turn. And he really can play some good piano. Part of the reason I think this is my favorite track on the disc is because it really focuses more on the playing of each member of the group (where I feel like the rest of the album is more of a vocal album that feels more like Frank Sinatra). And there is nothing wrong with the singing… but it doesn’t feel as unique to me.

‘Lofty’s Roach Souffle’ was released at the same time as ‘We Are In Love’ (certainly capitalizing on the ‘When Harry Met Sally’ success from the year before). I don’t necessarily think it is a stronger disc musically, but I like listening to it quite a bit more. ‘Lofty’s’ is a trio only disc, and I think you get more of the musicianship that is evident on ‘It’s Alright With Me’. You certainly get much more piano playing and I think that is a good thing.

I still remember the first time I listened to ‘Red Light, Blue Light’ quite vividly though. I got it to surprise Tamiko with, but had to listen to it when I got home from work. So I cracked it open and it starts of with a soft little clarinet melody… and I though my stereo was just turned down low. So I turn it up just in time for the HUGE big band blast. I shot back away from the stereo (I’m a pretty jumpy guy) and landed on my bed, then scrambled to turn the stereo back down again before my speakers blew up on the next hit. The orchestration on this album seemed to be a little more fun to put together then ‘We Are In Love’. Little looser in some ways, and certainly a bit showier. Lots of fun though.

Whenever I put these discs on, the nostalgia I mentioned earlier certainly kicks in. In many ways, these are part of the soundtrack of the early years of Tamiko and Josh (and I even remember putting some of these tracks on the discs that would be played when the band at our wedding was taking a break). Tamiko has asked me a number of times what songs would be on the mix disc of our relationship. The version of ‘A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square’ (with Branford Marsalis singing along with Harry Connick Jr.) would certainly be on that disc. And we’d be in sweats, all cozy on a couch, listening to the song. And ‘Heavenly’ would be the next track – sure, that breaks some serious mix disc rules, but the two songs really do belong right next to each other.