[Dixielandjazz] Harry Connick Jr. interviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Harry Connick Jr. Gives a Great Performance for PBS
by Luaine Lee, McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Kansas City Star, February 21, 2011
PASADENA, Calif. -- New Orleans singer and piano man Harry Connick Jr. always wanted
to be in the limelight. He got his wish. At 9 years old he was playing with the New
Orleans Philharmonic. At 19 he cut his first CD.
It wasn't because of some extraordinary talent, he thinks. "I had incredible opportunity.
I had very supportive parents, and when they said, 'Practice,' you know you practiced,"
he says.
All that practice paid off as Connick has gone on to record 24 albums, sold 25 million
copies and is ranked among the top best-selling male artists in the U.S. by the Recording
Industry Association of America.
He's also costarred in movies like "Hope Floats," "Independence Day" and written
soundtracks, the most famous of which is his luscious mix for "When Harry Met Sally."
For a taste of his talent, PBS' "Great Performances" on March 2 will present "Harry
Connick Jr. in Concert on Broadway." The show features Connick's big band and a 12-piece
string section, with the keyboardist on both a grand piano and upright honky-tonk
(check local listings).
"I'm one of those personalities who had to be at the center of attention all the
time," he says. "My dad tells a story of when I was in the fifth grade. He came to
kind of check up on me in school because he had heard that there was some disciplinary
issues. And he kind of peeked in the door, and the class was in session, and I was
in the back of the class at a table with about three other kids. And after the class
was over, my dad went to the teacher and said, 'What's going on? Why is Harry Jr.
in the back of the class?' And she says, 'Well, he won't listen to me, so I've just
decided to let him do his own thing back there.'"
Eventually he learned that attention wasn't everything. "But the thing is, when you
have the kind of tutelage that I had, like Ellis Marsalis and James Booker and those
kinds of people, they don't care about being the center of attention," he says.
"All they care about is that you're the best at your craft. So the problem occurs
when you are the center of attention and you don't know what you're doing."
He knows the feeling. "I felt like I always belonged on the stage. I never felt like
I didn't belong onstage. I mean, I feel like I'm a natural performer. But at times,
you get your behind kicked as a jazz musician. I could tell you a couple of stories
of playing with people who just mop the floor with you. I mean, that's part of growing
up, playing that kind of music. It's really, really, really hard. You know, that's
why there's not a lot of famous teenage jazz bands," he says.
"It takes a while to learn how to play. And I'm still learning... So I never felt
like I didn't belong onstage as a performer. But as a musician, I've been in situations
in a jam session at somebody's house where I was, like, 'Oh, man,' you know? And
I've played with people who weren't afraid... Ellis Marsalis. Two of his sons were
some of the meanest, cruelest critics I've ever had. And these were people I've known
my whole life. And they would say things like, 'You know, you really should think
about another vocation.'"
Connick says he doesn't worry about pleasing everyone when he's performing. "It doesn't
matter what arena you play in, whether the Super Bowl or whatever, you just got to
play the game," he says.
"...I don't know why people continue to come to my shows, to be honest with you.
And I'm not saying that to be facetious. I'm not fishing. I'm being really serious.
Because some people think of me as a guy who sings. Like, one of my daughter's friends
said that I sing vintage pop. And some people think of me as a jazz musician. And
they want to ignore the singing part of it. Some people, very few people, don't care
about the singing at all and kind of acknowledge the orchestrations and things like
that, which is as much a part of what I do as the singing.
"So, man, I can't even think about satisfying anybody. That happens when I'm onstage...
I just go out and try... to build a relationship. It's like being on a date or something.
You know, you gotta ask a lot of questions, and you gotta be considerate and polite.
And as the evening goes on, you kind of reveal a little bit more of yourself. That's
why, when a lot of people see me play, they say, 'You're a real stiff at the beginning
of your shows.' And I probably am, because you don't want to come into that date,
with your shirt unbuttoned all the way down."



--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
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