My New Orleans

Perfectly evident musical endowments predetermined Harry Connick Jr.'s destiny

More than 20 albums, 13 interesting roles in different films, 4 multiplatinum and 3 platinum records, 3 Grammy prizes and numerous nominations of Emmy, Oscar, Golden Globe and many others. Meanwhile this man, who is at the head of the list, is not even forty years old. Born in New Orleans, Harry Connick Jr. grew up the son of two lawyers who owned a record store. Harry even had no time to plan his future life, to choose the future profession, because everything was decided without his words. Perfectly evident musical endowments in early years of his life predetermined Harry's destiny. After beginning on keyboards at the age of three, he first performed publicly at six and recorded with a local jazz band at ten. Harry Connick Jr.'s self-titled album debut - a set of mostly unaccompanied standards - appeared in 1987. Jazz critics praised Connick Jr.'s maturity and engaging style as well as his extended stays at New York hot spots during the year. The audience of New York City could make themselves sure in the justice of all these compliments during the concerts of a very handsome Harry Connick Jr., which they could see in different small music halls in New York. Quite successfully, as for unprofessional actor, was developed the career of Harry Connick Jr. in a professional cinema. All started in 1989, when the popular romantic comedy under the name of When Harry Met Sally was released. In 1995, Harry offered to play the leading role in the movie Copycat. Connick Jr. very effectively could reincarnate in a hired assassin, and shortly after the ending of shooting of the film, Harry decided to marry the brilliant actress Jill Goodacre. After more than ten years of his music career, now we can say in the firm belief that Harry Connick Jr. remains in the ranks. In 2007, Connick Jr. once again expressed his deep love for his hometown with the release of his New Orlean's tribute album, Oh, My Nola.

A tribute to the birthplace of jazz and bright response to horrific disaster

Harry Connick Jr. truly loved his hometown and felt he owed the city a debt for all it had given to him. In that light, though he tastefully underplays his feelings about the tragedy, Connick Jr.'s Oh, My Nola is clearly his response to Hurricane Katrina. His New Orleans isn't just a city, it also encompasses his musical heroes (Louis Armstrong, James Booker, Allen Toussaint), his family, his musician friends, and the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Key tracks include the uplifting Elijah Rock and Yes We Can Can. Personal tributes also add to the heartfelt aura of Oh, My Nola. These include Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey, the favorite song of Connick Jr.'s Uncle Ray, and Lazy Bones, one of the songs that his mother would sing to him when he was a child. More powerful is All These People, inspired by the suffering Connick Jr. witnessed when he visited New Orleans in the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina. What people love most about this new album is that it feels so spontaneous. It's a masterful blending of jazz, blues, gospel, country and even some soul and funk. These songs have a warmth, an immediacy, a tenderness that shines brightly even in the rough edges of a dirty sax solo, a gospel organ lick, or the marvelously imperfect perfection of a rollicking brass section. The record Oh, My Nola is a great album, full of inventive arrangements of familiar songs, exciting instrumental solos and some new songs that are sure to become part of New Orleans rich musical heritage. At another level, Oh, My Nola is a tribute to the birthplace of jazz, a celebration of an iconic city that deserves our respect and our help in her time of need. For all of the work that remains to be done, there is a basic spirit of optimism and celebration that permeates Oh, My Nola. Having grown up in New Orleans, Harry Connick Jr. is an iconic product of a city famous for its rich musical history. His new release is the endearing ode to the rebirth of his hometown and the bright spirit of its people.

For one talented person there is nothing impossible

Harry Connick Jr. is the acknowledged jazz pianist and fertile composition with the artistic flair jazz style, he always tried not to find an easy way to success. He was one of those foolhardy enthusiasts who inspired a whole neoswing movement only because of interest to the music, but they didn’t know that time that their movement would be top out just after ten years. Expect this small group of bold spirits nobody believed in the success of it. The Harry Connick Jr.'s career as skillful and serious musician, who could gain the professional's acknowledgement, a big love of the lovers and, moreover, enviable progress on cinema screen, is a compelling evidence of the fact that for one talented person there is nothing impossible in this world. Today Harry Connick Jr. continues to create the successful things like his two last albums Chanson Du Vieux Carre and Oh, My Nola. On the latter Harry Connick Jr. puts his talents as a pianist, vocalist, arranger and songwriter together to paint this vivid musical portrait of New Orleans, at turns friendly, laid-back, brassy, frenetic, confused and wounded. When the Hurricane Katrina had happened, Connick Jr. arrived in New Orleans. He was one of the cofounders of the popular festival under the name "Krewe Of Orpheus". This project was directed to provide with domiciles the musicians and workers, who had lost their houses during the flood.