Not content to rest on his continuing successes as a singer, a
pianist, a composer of original songs, an arranger and a screen actor,
Connick has seized the opportunity in recent years to write an entire
Broadway score, patent new computer technology for the performance of
orchestral music, and create the character Leo on the popular NBC-TV
series Will and Grace. Harry Connick, Jr. may be one of the most
multi-talented artists in the world of contemporary entertainment.
For all the options at his command, however, Connick gives pride of
place to the talent that first brought him to public attention –
playing jazz music on the piano. Other Hours, his first album as a
leader on the Marsalis Music label after a guest appearance on The
Marsalis Family: A Jazz Celebration, gives Connick the opportunity to
remind us just how deeply his jazz roots run, in a program of original
music interpreted by a quartet drawn from his touring orchestra.
"I like doing different things," Connick admits. "When I
tour with my big band, I enjoy everything that is involved, from
writing the material and getting the audience feedback to being on the
road with everyone. But while piano playing is a huge part of what I
do, there is only so much that will fit into my shows. The quartet
offers something different and more intimate, both musically and
socially. It provides the chance to go places I can't go as a pianist
in other formats, and allows a more intensive look at my approach to
the instrument."
While Connick and his quartet mates -- tenor saxophonist Ned Goold,
bassist Neal Caine and drummer Arthur Latin II -- prepared for their
brilliant performances on Other Hours with a handful of road dates in
the summer of 2002, the pianist already knew he was onto something
special from the group's one-and-only rehearsal in a candlelit New
York recording studio. "We played for hours," Connick recalls,
"and it was a breakthrough. I already knew that we could tap into
something special, because our personalities work together so well;
but I also discovered a change in my own sound that made me a
different musician, a change that has resulted from my life
experiences rather than conscious musical choices."
This growth shines forth with particular clarity in the melodic
strength and rhythmic variety of the material. "My tunes are
melody-driven, which gives you more options than improvising on
harmony-driven tunes," he explains. Another factor contributing to
the organic feeling of the entire album is the consistent quality of
those twelve original compositions, many of which were heard in
Connick's score for the Broadway musical Thou Shalt Not. "Each of
the pieces was written for the play, though some were not used in the
final version," he notes. "While situations in the play
provided the bases for the lyrics, I liked the melodies so much that I
also wrote with the intention of performing each tune as a stand-alone
song."
The success of Connick's efforts, which won him a Tony nomination in
2002, is reinforced as the composer-pianist and his quartet now add
improvisation. "We approached the material the way jazz musicians
approach a standard when they decide to blow on it," Connick says.
"I printed out lead sheets when we went into the studio, and I read
the lyrics to each of the songs before we recorded. I used to think
it was corny to focus on the lyrics when you're just playing a song,
but lyrics are so important. 'How About Tonight' is a great example
because the song is about a seduction and the mood changes as the song
progresses. I've played a lot of songs when I had no idea what they
were about, and this way is much better."
Even without lyrics, the twelve tracks on Other Hours captivate with
their emotional and formal strengths. Some even enhance their melodic
appeal with introductory verses that recall the glory days of Gershwin
and Porter. "It's so sad now that only some jazz musicians know
the verses to the great popular standards," Connick notes.
"When I studied with Ellis Marsalis, we had to know the verses, and
I'm proud when I can create a verse like the one on 'Take Advantage'
that works musically as well as narratively."
Another point of pride for Connick is the exceptional performance of
his quartet throughout Other Hours. The album reminds us that jazz is
a language of grace, wit and deep-down swing by placing musical values
over technical display and group interaction over individual
showboating. Its strengths are both bold and subtle, reinforcing the
jazz profile of the leader and his three stellar associates.
The opening "What a Waste," for example, finds Connick using
space and silence with an invigorating kick that recalls Ahmad Jamal
and Thelonious Monk. "Knowing when to play and when not to play is
a good example of how I've grown," he explains. "It's not
something that I think about consciously. I just sense when simply
playing back what someone else in the band played would make for a
boring conversation, or when playing at all would cloud someone else's
train of thought." Such unselfishness provides inspiration
throughout the album for tenor saxophonist Charles "Ned" Goold,
a Connick regular for over a decade with a lean, declarative concept.
"Ned's approach is very deep and complicated," Connick marvels,
"but we share the same ideals in music. He likes to be funky, he
thinks bebop is great, and he understands the value of a pretty sound.
He plays my music as well as anybody could."
Other Hours also plays with beats and tempos in a most infectious
manner, displaying the limber responsiveness of Connick and his
rhythm-section partners. Some of the references, as on "Take
Advantage" are distinctively old-school. "I used a two-beat
feeling on 'Take Advantage' because I love that feeling, and grew up
with some bass players who were probably there when that beat first
came around. That feeling is as natural to me as the clave is to
someone from Cuba, and Neal Caine is one of the few young bassists who
can play it well." Caine, a recent addition to Connick's touring
orchestra, quickly impressed his boss as "someone who can process
the music extremely well. Neal's a great athlete and very funny,
almost a non-musician type as far as his personality goes; yet he's
incredibly thorough harmonically, and responds to every demand I place
upon him."
Other tracks like "Sovereign Lover" gain dramatic tension
through more complex rhythmic schemes. "On 'Sovereign Lover' we
were trying to deal in an organic-sounding manner with Arthur Latin
really swinging at a fast tempo while I played different and
contrasting tempos with my right and left hands. Arthur can handle
this, because he is the most talented drummer I've ever played
with," Connick says of the man who has driven his orchestra since
1997. "He's a virtuoso who grows on his own, without being told
what to do, and he's also a great piano player and a great singer."
Connick's enthusiasm for the music and the musicians of Other Hours is
shared by Branford Marsalis, who is proud to have his old friend and
his father's former pupil as a Marsalis Music artist. "Rather than
rest on his laurels, Harry has quietly amassed a large musical
vocabulary," Branford notes. "All of his songs have strong
melodic content, he plays solos that consist of melody and more melody
instead of patterned licks and scales, and his understanding of how to
work within a rhythm section and support a soloist has grown with his
musical wisdom. Other Hours is a great return to his first love,
which is playing the piano in a jazz setting, and his music will only
get better."
Connick echoes Marsalis' sentiments when he says that "If you took
everything else away that I love, playing jazz music would be the last
thing standing. After all, playing jazz on the piano is the first
thing I did. I sang early on, but I didn't stand up and sing with a
microphone in my hand until I was 21. Branford's my savior, because
you can only release so many records, and I could only go so far in
incorporating piano playing into my vocal albums. This record is
exactly where I need to be as an instrumental artist, and my ongoing
Marsalis Music affiliation means that I can finally go into the studio
as a pianist and play whatever the hell I want."
Harry Connick, Jr's legion of fans need not fear, for there is much
more singing and acting on this young giant's horizon. At the same
time, jazz lovers will rejoice, because Other Hours heralds the start
of a brilliant new chapter in the story of Harry Connick, Jr., jazz
musician.