HARRY CONNICK JR :: HARRY CONNICK JR :: VINYYLI LP 1987

Harry Connick, Jr.

His First Album .. A Mega Clasic ..

Label .. Columbia - FC 40702

Country .. US

Released .. 1987

Genre .. Jazz

Style .. Vocal, Swing, Bop

Tracks :

1 .. Love Is Here to Stay

2 .. Little Clown

3 .. Zealously

4 .. On the Sunny Side of the Street

5 .. I Mean You

6 .. Vocation

7 .. On Green Dolphin Street

8 .. Little Waltz

9 .. E

Barely out of his teens, Harry Connick, Jr. possesses a musical track record that many artists his senior would envy. Credits include work with the Marsalises, Lionel Hampton, Buddy Rich, George Shearing, and Eubie Blake. Eponymously titled: Harry Connick Jr., his debut album for Columbia Records features well-known bassist Ron Carter, New Orleans drummer Herlin Riley, and contrabassist Reginald Veal. Harry was born and raised in New Orleans, surrounded by the area's disparate musical styles: R&B, Dixieland, and various jazz forms including stride, bebop and honky tonk. Although both parents were in the legal profession (his father is the New Orleans District Attorney and his late mother was a judge,) they at one time owned a record store and encouraged their son's early enthusiasm for music. His listening favorites (then and now) include Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum, Louis Armstrong, and Erroll Garner. New Orleans' famous Preservation Hall, where he heard local artists like Sweet Emma Barrett, Freddie Kohlman, Thomas Jefferson, and Teddy Riley, was a second home for Harry. "I became musically active at a young age," Harry remembers. "I started sitting in with Dixieland musicians when I was six and played at my father's inaugural when I was five." While still in high school, Harry enrolled as a music major at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. (NOCCA) There he met several people who would profoundly influence his career and his future. His classical piano studies with Betty Blancq enabled him to win several local piano competitions, but it was his jazz teacher Ellis Marsalis (father of Wynton and Branford; now a music professor at Virginia Commonwealth) who coached Harry in bebop. The Marsalis influence, as well as that of the late New Orleans pianist James Booker, is apparent throughout the album. Produced by Delfeayo Marsalis (yet another talented Marsalis sibling,) the LP was recorded direct-to-digital 2-track on the SONY PCM 1610, in one single afternoon at Concordia College in Bronxville, New York, January 12, 1987. "Delfeayo chose the recital hall for its acoustics…" says Harry, "…and I was very pleased with it." The album's five solo piano selections clearly reflect the runs and stride styles learned from James Booker as well as the syncopations and dissonances of Monk. Of the standards ("Love Is Here to Stay," "Sunny Side of the Street," and "On Green Dolphin Street,") Harry says, "They're all old favorites of mine that came to mind immediately when I had to pick tunes for the album." Regarding Gershwin’' "Love Is Here to Stay," Harry says, "I found out it was George Gershwin's last composition, and I've always liked the melody." He notes that "Sunny Side of the Street" was dedicated to James Booker because it is so reminiscent of his style, possessing a swing that is noticeably missing from most versions. "On Green Dolphin Street" pleasantly surprises the listener with an almost impressionistic approach to its inner voicings. "Little Clown" and "Zealousy," both Harry originals, provide interesting contrasts to the standards. "Little Clown" was written when he was fifteen, during his stay at the Tanglewood Institute. "Wynton said he liked the tune, so I recorded it after having forgotten about it for some time." And "Zealousy" was inspired by "Magnolia Triangle," a tune written by James Black, a New Orleans drummer. "Although the A section is in 5/4," Harry comments, "…it sounds as if it's in ¾, a time signature infrequently chosen by jazz musicians because of its difficulty.

Musicians :

Harry Connick Jr. - Piano

Ron Carter - Bass

Reginald Veal - Bass

Herlin Riley - Drums