HARRY CONNICK, JR. EY ROBERT L, DOERSCHUK fier a decade on the job, Harry Connick, Je is exhausted, Net from his dizzy rise to stardom, which shot him from club gigs to concert hols in three hectic years. Nor from his recent heavy recording schedule, which culminated in the simultaneous release of two albums—Lofyy’s Roach Souffé, Featuring his trio, and We Are In Love, with big band—on July 3. No, the real culprit oll this time hos been the press Ever since Connick’s debut at age 13 at the Famous Door in homelown New Orleans, locks of reporters have circled the ssh Po os Pap cone srisr rey Dea cere LoNGHaIR, Srey Carrs COTE Ey Srey) aro ee NASTINESS AT TANGLEWOOD, AND THE IGNORANCE OF THE PRESS. Aucust veseneveoarD 73.HARRY CONNICK, JR. ‘young pianis like vultures closing in ona tasty ‘carcass. Their questions harp again and again fon the same thees—his tender yeas, his family life as son of a hard-line DA, his ‘movie star good looks. Every now and then they even ask about his music, though seldom with the sor of insight common among mu- sicians. For some reason, joumalis seem de- termined to tum Connick into a ‘media phenomenon, areincara- tion of james Dean with a voice like the young Sinatra and a key- board feel rooted in the French Quarter. But looks, in his case at least, can be misleading. Never ‘mind his fashion spreads in GQ and Rolling Stone: All he really lever wanted tobe is, pure and sim- ple, a jazz piano player. ‘Some would argue that Con- rick had already achieved this, goal, as far back as his 1987 eponymous Columbia debut al- bbum, On “Love is Here to Stay,” the fist cut, his diminished fifth siide pattern and the sharp edges with which he chisels the Gersh- win theme in his ight hand prove that he has done his homework on Fats Waller and Thelonious Monk. The boppish runs that scamper vera Latinesque foundation on “Green Dolphin Street,” from the same album, offer further evidence of Connick’ facility at mixing and matching diverse influences. A Bill Evans-like delicacy animates his duo with bassit Ron Carter on “Lit tle Walt.” And his thoughful m- ble through “Imagination,” ran- scribed on page 75, hints sense: of structural improvisation thats only beginning to emerge in his work today. But, much to Connick’ chai it getting harder to hold on to this dream. Every note recorded on his first three albums seems to draw flocks of critics, word processors hurnming, eager to propound in- acourefe and unnecessary opinions Even when they have nice things to say, as most have to clte, it seems to rub him the wrong way. Tell him that his records reflect an impressive ylis- ticlversity, and he answers ina revealing non Sequitur, “never dd that on purpose. That was Sot ofthe press making up their own mind | was just playing like I play.” Some would call Connick a prodigy, point. ing to his performance at age five at his father’s inauguration, hs imitation to tour with Buy 74 Kevtonaoiaucust 1990 Rich at age nine, the two trad jazz albums he had cut by the age of 11, He even shared the stage with ragtime legend Eubie Blake, then nearly ten times Connick’ age; ther duo performance was filmed by a japanese com- pany fora documentary titled Music Around the World. In a laconic down-home drawl, ‘Connick remembers their encounter: ate 2 lot of apple pie, Licked the plate. My Aunt Jessie got real mad at me, because we was “PIANO PLAYERS TODAY HAVE WIMPY LEFT HANDS, THEY PLAY WITH NO POWER, NO AUTHORITY IN THEIR LEFT HANDS.” ‘cut in pubic lcd care; was only ten years ‘old. Now, of course, I look back, and its ‘amazing. If | knew then what | know now, | would have asked him a lot of important ‘questions. But | wouldn't do that now, be- ‘cause | do so many interviews, and | know what it’s like to do ‘em, The last thing l want todos interview anybody.” Tre, itis a diy job, one bes eft to min- ions ofthe media. Thus, when we spoke with Connick, he was in New York, surrounded by telephones on which interviewers waited with bated breath and redundant questions, ‘As Keyboard settled into its holding pattern within this swarm of callers, we tookeen, inthe ac hat our conces wesemap ASHE sical Let others ask about his acegg, eo 28°, as a tal gunner in the World Wap ‘Memphis Belle. Maybe People wai. rehash his fondness for doppia aa shoe or sore celebrity imitatic.s to ‘We were more intrested in talking je ‘And so we did. From amidst eh f= ringing phones and a babble of under ‘voices in some distant Mins olfice, the hottest heathy jazz since Chet Baker hee ‘out and spoke his peace, 1 your pr. tse yau've dedouse fore of formats | ano, trio, duo, voesi | stumertl an soon Onis | EXCERPT | Roach Sul thouph ey but one is done in & trio ser} - with Ben Wolle on bass.) Shannon Powell on dune Yeah, it was some wanted to do, bse cof tyng to show ute Singing ail bit ra ~ solo. | wanted to purse fe ceptot paying withatint Tie to move on How Tong dita do these records? We did Loty’s Roach Ber ina dg Fates mont} FEES The other one» didia-rs {® weeks. j j These albums are atest f in that almost every} ‘sanoriginal une. Out of the two new se} y there's only wo stand they're both on the orches- bum. One of them 15" \P——p right With Me,” eal te is "A Nightingale ongit 1 b ley Square.” | Sp 2 Have you gotten tied of dongsin™ Pb ‘The press tired me out of ‘em. 1%" ofthe press saying, "So you're ane” | these old songs.” So I'm gonna show * litle of my own stuff Ldontt wart the est of my life interpreting soeor®* songs. : ‘Are modem audiences ving 0° * openly to new material asthe, 00892") from the great era of American "6 Wall, think thatthe era of gest ing is about to come. Why is that?ers, We took ep, ems were ata out his act gxane the songs that are coming out on radio today are just deplorable. “Tes no excuse fr that. They living under ‘ig, man They sneak’ ts like when « plvirg ater the eacher leaves the hom. The eacher represents ll the great itr hen she Faves all he kid start "around. Well the teachers about to -sthe classroom again . . . children! ‘ifpeople a listening to terble songs People woud Sorina ao ca mamiane es rile of media Fn, that must ean they've goten res ert yt you onside fo be god songs ake hem hey didn et ired oft I's just that all ake his peace igeatsongnters dled. t became a mon- raking see, and people sated wring -Eodsongs they realized thatthe pub st everything) tune. Me,” and thee wale Sang of doing sand tf omg enna oe lnk want ting someone lic’s intellect was a lot lower than they thought, and thatthe audience would accept terible things alot more readily. Back then, they wouldn't accept a lot of these songs Now they do. But i you've been raised on badly writen songs, can you even recognize a good song when you hear one? Of course. All the people want is to dance and be enterained. My band dances and entertains them. There's plenty of room, at the top. What the key to writing a tune that you ‘can blow on with a trio? ‘Well, normally, think ofthe melody fst. Then the chords fall into place. Hopefully, the chords wor't be so complicated that you cart improvise over them. Some of my tunes have strange bar forms and strange chords. Buti’ funny, man, how they fll into place. {dort realy write a tune forthe purpose of improvising on it. Most ofthe time, just write ‘a melody and some chords, then | erase the melody and see how well the chords lend themselves to improvisation. Deo certain types of tunes work ete than ‘thers for performance on piano? Sure. A good example ofthat is Monk tunes. dnt know how [Monks saxophonist) hatte Rouse played those tunes. But he id Some of my tunes are kind of srange like that Contruedon page 72 Aucust iewoxiveoaaa 75MARRY CONNICK, JR. Continued rom page 73 too. In other words, some of the tunes I write {or piano are very difficult to sing, which is ‘not really the mark of a good melody. But somehow it works anyway. Some ofthe tunes lend themselves great o band situations, some of then dont. Clearly, Thelonious Monk was one of your ‘major influences. ‘Oh, definitely, But | hated hien at first, didn’t know what the hell he was doing. thought he was missing notes. Now I realize that he was probably one ofthe top three pi nists of alltime, I dont think Act Tatum could Celebrating Our Oth Year! iotabitae temice Computer Hardware & Software. Trades Accepted. HUGE Inventory! Same Day Shipping Over 300 Brands of New & Used Equipment. Price Quotes & Orders Va bhone Wel oe, CALL TODAY! 20Bank St,New London, CT. 06320 US.A. =eanmo 203-442-9600 play those runs with that big of a sound. A lot of people think Monk had no technique, bbut Monk had probably the greatest echnique of any pianist ever. Ask anybody to try to play ste ike that on piano, noto miss any notes, and get that big of a sound. And play those runst Shit, man. What made you change your mind about Monk? Iwasa gradual thing. But you know, 'm ‘not this Monkophile, lke some people cal ime. My bass players; he knows all that stuf But I don't really know that many Monk songs. ike Monk, I think he's great, but I ddr really listen to any of his stuff before | did my record. Ifyou played Monk tunes, FAX US! 203-442-0463 7B Kevsoaxoiavcust 1990 | could probably tll you five ofthe ti rest of them 1 don't know. “Litle ga" Tootie”? | coulde't sing that to you, Sil, unlike you, a ft of pianists mig, fact that Monk has close ties othe sig dition That's because people are i> ran, itcomes to Fstening to Monk, They cents listen. ike for people to siti 3 mom, ime when I listen to Monk. They'd goo. there crying because ofthe things that fm a piano player, and | know what be tying to do, But sure as hell can'tdots Your version of “Love Is Here ta shows that you understand that conn between Monk and stride, though, Ail bit. Ym just scratch esr, Butif you listen to him play ice Wa You Can Get” on the Salo Monk bum | of pin), thats where was headed: ihe “That ws unbelievable. You use another Monk device xe you drop unexpected notes into the c= pattem on “Lets Cal he Whole Tings F and the trio version of It Flad to 86. § irom When Harry Met Sally i Kinda, soto speak. I haves rays that as such. 1 guess the end hiss: do play lke that. What impact cd pianists in New Os hhave on your style? ‘Well, James Booker was a huge int rman, Most ofthe things | pay ave de lated to Booker. [Ed. Note: Connick st with Booker uni age 13, when the we ‘New Orleans pianist died! How would you describe is spe the New Orleans school asa et sical terms? teskind of ard to describe. Most Stuf isjst a eat. Theres kind ofkes boa beat to it many times I's rally ho put into words, because there's so mim ferent aspects of. ‘Maybe you're referring to that iba’ {ke sythen you pt in the bas fry formance of “Avalon,” on the stb Yeah, that’s New Orleans Thats)" Book Poze Lorgha acai that bas line, but is based on sor James Booker did, ‘sthis what Jelly Roll Morton us “the Spanish tinge” in New Ores» I dirt really deal as much wth #8 as dealt with Fess [i Professor Lins: and those guys. | plan to demonstal® influence on my nexalbum, which il ably be out next year—an ali album. Il produce i wre al 2 018 alte instruments—bass, cums si! et, saxophone, organ, everything The challenge would be to keep feeling. - No, not really. They used t 0¥€4jarRY CONNICK, JR. scold Meters records. The hard par will “hey play al those instruments atthe rete live [deadpan silence “pve you ever done overdubbing on “Sate anton: On ane song seen’ fom We Are In Love, Lsang ‘bepatsa cappella All24 tacks. That ie metoned in ther ntevows you went through 2 period of emus ‘rgmore modern keyboards, such 28 “yeh Corea and Herbie Hancock, What ‘mitoses has survived in how you “ tooy? sathing Wy doesn’ the more contemporary curd work for you these dys? Letmepitto you this way: Thelonious \srk Wile “The Lion Sith Erol Gamer ‘an peope played witha huge sound, they vedtheratically, and they swung really ‘ud Ihren Chick and Herbie wil tll seubesame thing, fm not saying thal theyre age bt 71 choose to play like them. ‘eno play inore melodically, more the- cally and witha bigger sound. ‘Does your interes in getting a big sound «af the piano stem from having to play against audience noise in loud clubs? Yes. It came from having to entertain two or three hundred people at atime with just a piano and no amplifier Playing boogie ‘woogie for hours, man, until your fingers bleed, your fingemals are all cracked, you're sweating lke a pig, That's what playing real MARRY CONNICK, JR. [A SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY Harry Connick, Je, Columbia, Lolly’ Roach Soufflé, Columbia. 20, Columbia. We Are in Love, Columbia, When Harry Met Sally. ., Columbo, house music is. The thematic aspect is especially impor tant in playing songs... If you're playing ja22, it should be im- portant, ‘So wen you're playing a gig, do you con: sciously work to develop the theme of the piece in your solos? Yeah, sure. Eventually it probably becomes second nature, but at this point in my life Pm. ‘tying to play thematically Does your approach playing an a theme draw a al rom your classical taining? Not tal. ve completly abandoned ev- ery single thing earned in hata 18 years oft There must be some lingering element of that taining in your technique ‘Nothing: When Ido my classical a- bum, show everbody that there was nothing te do witht tin Connick jose playing Yue going to doa classical album? Oh, sure. One day Whar the cifeence between clas- sical and jazz techniques? Classical echniqve cea with the cur vature ofthe hand, whereas jazz deals with he fainess ofthe hand, at east the ‘way | play i Classical music dels with interpreting ther people's musi, with playing peoples improvisetions that they'd ‘wate doven, and dont ike doing that tke paying my om mi. ke to improvise rmyselt Technically, classical music doesnt require you to deal with the same kind of sound that jazz does. ll the sliding things that Ido now, | would neverhave done then My teacher would have yelled at me. This cat played al the scales withthe ame fn. agring! Give mea break, man. 'm not gonna do that because he said to do i ACE MUSIC CENTER THE PRO'S CHOICE FOR PROFESSIONAL EQUIPMENT FOR OVER 30 YEARS. CALL ACE AND FIND OUT WHY '800 446-4.ACE 30 WEST DIXIE HWY. MIAMI, FLA. 33161 ExG s Editthis: —| Not an easy proposition right? Wrong, ‘With Sound Tools’, the DAT /0™ Digital interface and your Macintosh® I you've gota desktop DAT editing system. 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That’the way Europeans jut American silldo ithe whole ical musi vibe, man, Too damn com- seine. Tey wou etre pla at my final 2 ovood becuse feather sed ined evils music. Man, Iwas one of i ot £900 that got accepted that ‘rhe Tanglewood Musie Center), and ‘rey wouldn't let me play my classical piece eal Because | was a jazz musician! ‘What, for you, is the difference between sving classical piece and learing to Sin ajaz tune effectively? ‘Nogieence Same thing. Leam a Horace ‘se tune earn a Bach tune Well. what did you pick up as a pianist +10 Silverunes and ther scrreperiite? eam tha the eft hands allimportant players today have wimpy et hands. play wit no power, no authority in ther «tac Got pay song, man. See, hands sre not meant to play piano. They were ear grab sti. As long as we playing ela, we ight a6 wel play i eight. ty “este meant to do this No atts, no sais The gt a litle sore once in 2 se bcs |Peat the crap out of er. But ‘Py bounce back strong. he is-hand pater you don't ofen use “te wing eighthnote bass Yeah, Ion get into that | use my bass playe ‘Petal. can doit, but don ike that sound, “pleust slough over the bass notes. Ifyou ‘applay it then teally play it. t'should be staking patter, punctuated by grace uth. ink, dink, dnkeuh, dink, wuld sing But hasan {Se More power to ‘ems I never ard Maller do ig that’ why I dnt doi 0u1yOU think that electronic keyboards, ieee de-emphasize active kechand Me hala negative impact on rusc? Sindee thik theyre grea. That funk = ee se elec gitar in my band “en think anybody has used synthe : els potential yet, People have tried, ust n fr presttutions and bas- “Aa ote music. They're sing them eg ene hey re not using ther or m- sine Why Use a violin sytheszer + lo CaN Use a sting section? Pay for 120 Siting section, : : "¥€You done any work with synthe- sizers? {fm not 0 interested in that stuf. ike to use piano. What about using synths in orchestra com texts behind the piano? dont ike eleconic coloring. ike acous- ti coloring the real deal used to play funk Bigs all the time on synthesizers, but don't now how to use all hat crap’ great stu, but don't have time to figure it out. mean, 1 just bought one of those lap-top Comput. ers—the Macintosh ponable. Ane | took it back. Pain in the but, Were you planning to use tor musical projecs? Yeah, but music software is writen for people who cant count to four i all quarter ote, rockandoll easy basic stuf You start playing some sing rhythms, an! the com- puter says,“ cant write thal.” So it was of no use to me, 0 you think that your two new records represent a step forward for you sa plans? Uthink so, but you know hat? Tobe hon ‘estith you, lain gt natin, man. im just, trying to cut the cake lke everybody ese They're making big fuss over me but Faint 01 notin special. mean, Ym okay, but ba- sically my life is uneven. The press i a ways tying to sick hooks ino ike ow I got started tan eaiy age, and ths aretha. Man, r-- a lor of kids star at early ages. There's aton of jazz piano players out there, doin’ what |1do. So don't think Ym nothin’ special | real- ly dont. t'm not just saying that. really don’t hhave anything extraordinary to offer. | just want people to enjoy my show. that’s true, then why were you the only 19-year-old jazz pianist to get a deal with Columbia Records? Just lucky, I guess. You mean you've heard lots of other young players who deserve as much of a break as you gor? "haven't heard anybody who's knocked ‘So maybe the fact is that you are doing something that nobody else your age is doing as well as you. [Gmbarrased laugh) | don't know: tm just sad to be doing it. thank the Lord every Sun- cay. e FOR FURTHER READING ‘Several ofthe artists mentioned inthis ar- tick have been interviewed or profiled in pre- Vous issues of Keybourc Eubie Blake, Aug. 77, Dec. 82; Chick Corea, Sept/Oct. 75, Feb. 78, july 83, Ape ‘84, Oc. 85, June ‘86, July “88; Herbie Hancock, NowDec. 75, Nov. (77, Fe. "83, Jan, “86; Aug, 86; July ‘88; The- lonious Monk, July 82. | Master this: You know i's goed, You know you want it ona cermpact disc, Now what? 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