Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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It's about time Connick relaxed. He paid his dues early on, practicing feverishly to perfect his craft since the age of 3. "I remember having a piano in the house, walking up to it, plunking the keys down, and hear- ing notes and tones. I was fascinated by that," Connick recalls. "I would play one note, I'd hear something, then I'd play two or three at the same time. Harmonies would come, and I just found that so fascinating." His parents were lawyers—Harry Connick Sr. spent 30 years as the district attorney of New Orleans— who owned a record store before Connick was born and often brought him and his sister, Suzanna, to see local musicians at clubs that opened before noon. Connick, who still retains his New Orleans drawl, became completely immersed in music, meeting superstars like Buddy Rich and Frank Sinatra at his father's fundraisers. At 14, he began studying with Ellis Marsalis, patriarch of the Marsalis clan of jazz royalty. "Ellis and my dad knew each other from way back," Connick says. "I studied with him every day, all throughout high school. He was the best teacher I ever had, for sure." Marsalis, he explains, was tough and demanding, subjecting his students to intricate levels of analysis and critique and never letting them get away with half an effort: "When you're up against that kind of scrutiny, you can't get away with anything. There was never 'Oh, you're such a cute, talented little kid.' There was none of that. If you did wrong, 'Go practice it. That was subpar.' And you did." T hat discipline is clearly evident on Idol. Connick served as a mentor to the contestants on Seasons 9 and 12 of the hit show, then joined as a judge last year. Following a season regarded as uninspired, his humor and critical intelligence brought a new energy to the star-making machine. "He was the only mentor who really took the time and spent days with us rather than a few brief minutes," says Crystal Bowersox, Season 9's runner-up, who recently performed at Worcester's Mechanics Hall. When she sang Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind," she says, Connick taught her how to make the song more enthralling by holding the note on the vowel in the word "wind" instead of on a consonant. "He said it was bringing the emotion out far more than what I had been doing, and he was totally right. He's really a musical genius." This sort of specificit y is important, Connick says, because most of the show's contestants didn't have the advantage of intense early training like he did. When asked about the nature of today's musi- ca l aspira nt s, Connick a nswers w it hout pause: "A lot of t a lent , no educat ion. I see it w it h a lmost everybody that comes to audition. Most of them have no idea what they're doing. If I can bring any- thing to Idol, hopefully it will be an awareness that education and craft are only going to enhance your musical experience and you as a person." Connick knows firsthand where a thorough musical education can lead. He moved to New York at 18, played clubs around town, and was soon signed to Columbia Records. But his real big break came from director Rob Reiner, who asked him to write music for the film When Harry Met Sally, an opportu- nity that boosted Connick from opening act to headliner and fueled his path to stardom. At around the same time, the casting director for the 1990 film Memphis Belle caught Connick playing in Los Angeles and cast him as an Air Force sergeant. "I got an inside look at making movies and whether that was something I wanted to do—and it was," he says. Since then, he has acted in more than 20 films, including the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day, and earned acclaim playing Grace's husband Leo on the NBC hit Will & Grace. He has also demonstrated a command of stage acting, earning a Tony nomi- nation for best actor in a musical for his role in the 2006 Broadway revival of The Pajama Game. C o nnick says the satisfaction he takes from music and acting comes from the ways in which they mine similar creative impulses: "The specifics are different, but the source is the same. [It comes from] going places that may be uncomfortable, or exciting, or mysterious, or intimidating. It comes down to how you interpret it, especially with other people. That's where the fun beg ins, because you're able to t ravel places in your mind that can be very exciting, or embarrassing, or humiliating, or empowering. They're heightened experiences that are very intense." From Maison Bourbon to the American Idol stage, Connick's talent has served him well. Mix that with his zest for novel experiences and we can look forward to seeing even more sides to this versatile artist. Except, of course, when he's indulging in his bliss: doing "nothing in particular" with his family on the Cape. BC "i r emember having a piano in the house, walking up to it, plunking the keys, and hearing notes and tones.... Harmonies would come, and I just found that so fascinating." — HARRY CONNICK JR. bostoncommon-magazine.com 103