Harry Connick Jr. put on the best show I think I have ever seen. HCJ isn't my favourite musician of all time by any means, and while I like vocal jazz, it's most certainly not my top genre choice of music. But this show was top top top notch. I won't dwell on the strange photo restrictions - suffice to say, it was limited, as you can see, but that hardly seemed to matter.



The show opened with a long instrumental number. The curtains drew back to reveal a large and intense stage set. This was, by the way, at The Centre, a venue often used for Broadway-style plays, so the stage is huge. Covering the entire back wall was a print of a blotchy, impressionist painting of a New Orleans building, viewed as though you're standing in the street and looking up at it. From the ceiling hung low, lazily-wheeling fans above a variety of pianos and band members. The pianos ranged from old, dusty uprights, to shiny black grands. Behind this, an old-fashioned streetlamp flickered dimly. The whole vibe made it feel like being in a dusky, smoky bar on the bayou, the sort of place you'd go to avoid the glitz of the city, the off-the-path kind of place where you'd watch a one-eyed vagabond playing the saxophone, and it might just be the most talented set of hands you'd ever chanced to witness. It's people who love, live and breathe music far more than your average contemporary music fan. They don't need the success, the notariety, or the glamour - they just wanna play a song from the heart.



HCJ himself was not on stage at the beginning. It might have been nearly ten minutes before he put in an appearance. I'm not sure of the exact time. At first, it was just the dozen or so folks lined up and jazzing away with their brass and their big ol' upright basses and whatnot. Finally, HCJ strolled easily out, gave a bow and a wave at stage-edge to his audience, then took a seat behind the grand piano and started playing and singing. One thing I noticed while watching him was how the shininess of his shoes rivalled the shininess of the piano. Those were some damn shiny dress shoes. Standard after standard was played to perfection. I think... again, not being a jazz connoisseur, I can't actually claim everything went off without a hitch (aside from one obvious glitch, but we'll get to that). But if there were errors - who cares? This is sheer talent. You put this alongside the most popular guitar rock bands of today, and there's absolutely no comparison. And so much honesty! I know they mostly aren't songs that HCJ wrote himself, but they're played with such a genuine intensity. It's the truth, not some guy making up something to manufacture your emotions. You feel the energy and the blood, sweat and tears of the songs just through that honesty.



HCJ also seems very aware of his audience. He regales tales to them before and after songs, sometimes regarding the song itself, and sometimes just for entertainment. Between the casual banter, songs, comedy routines, and dancing, it was like being at a 50s variety show. Good natured, mostly G-rated with a tiny bit of well-disguised smut thrown in for good measure, and so endlessly entertaining, it made your face hurt from oversmiling. He sang a song where he was not behind the piano, and instead just wandered easily about the stage, making very direct eye contact with people in front of him, and afterwards spoke of how that song is about the greatest feeling in the world, "When you get to say 'I love you, too,' as a response, because someone else said it to you first. I think I said it too many times to my wife before we got married, and any air of mystery I might have had I was throwing right out the window. She agreed."



Clearly, everyone was having a good time - audience and band alike. After removing his jacket and tossing it haphazardly behind him ("I'm a celebrity, I can throw my designer clothes on the ground. I don't even know how much that suit jacket costs."), he began telling some story, when someone far back in the crowd yelled something at him. HCJ stopped his tale and asked, "What was that?" into the dark of the theatre. The fellow repeated, "Come back at Christmas!" Apparently still mishearing what was said, HCJ exclaimed, "Christmas? What are you talking about man, it's June!" Someone closer to him repeated what was said for him, and he goes, "Ohhh, come BACK at Christmas. Well who says I'm leaving?" Audience cheers. He carries on about being part Canadian. "My great-grandmother was from Quebec, and my father-in-law is from Red Deer..." More audience cheers. Randomly, he begins to talk about his wife and father-in-law, who happened to be there that night. HCJ, looking off to one side at the backstage area, told the father-in-law to come out and wave. After a few moments, he did, but from the opposite side of the stage from where HCJ was facing. Confused and thinking the man still hadn't put in an appearance, he kept coercing him to show himself until people pointed out that he was, in fact, already standing on the other side of the stage, sheepishly waving to the room.





After the gent disappeared again behind the curtains, HCJ continued talking about how he must be really disappointed that his daughter married some 'girlyman' instead of a big burly hockey player. "Well, what do you want? My daughters play hockey, that's how much of a wimp I am. You guys are hard up here - it's cold, you bundle up all the time, play hockey, beat each other up. Look what I do for a living. Man, I went to Quebec to play a show, there was some guy outside pouring maple syrup onto snow... this is what I paid $5 for? Man, you guys are tough. I'm sure my father-in-law would have preferred his daughter marry Wayne Gretzky or something instead of me."



It wasn't all just stitches. Before going to play that old piano, he told us about the instrument, being from 1912, they don't tune it much, and it's important to have it along for authenticity's sake, since they don't have nice pianos like [the grand] on the bayou. He talked about being a kid and being taught to play the piano by a local legend with huge hands. "They called him Old Spider Fingers." He understands his role as an entertainer as well. "If I can make one person happier leaving than they are coming in, I think I'm doing my job."



HCJ also featured his good friend and "the greatest trombone player alive," Lucian Barbarin. This guy was a character, running around the stage after HCJ as he switched pianos, joining in for silly and oddly-choreographed dancing, tap dancing, shuffling, butt wiggling (much to the delight of the ladies in the crowd). HCJ pointed out a few kids in the audience, "There's a little boy right there, and some beautiful kids over there. One day they're going to tell their grandkids they saw you play live, Lucian." Barbarin was awesome. He got his own song to sing too, which was a bit of a scampy one. He sidled about the front of the stage cooing to the girls in the audience, "I love you... and you... and you and you and you and you..." It was like a showtune from a Marilyn Monroe flick. As he ran back to the piano to retrieve his trombone, in front of a giggling HCJ, in his haste, he managed to knock the trombone mute off the top of the piano when he went to grab it. With no time to spare, he let it roll to the ground and continued his solo without it. He kicked it under the piano to HCJ's feet. He kicked it back. Barbarin kicked it back again, with more force, and it rolled under the piano and off to the corner of the stage. HCJ, laughing all the while, got up midsong, ran to retrieve the mute, and kicked it back across the stage at Barbarin. He took it and kicked it a few times across the stage before finally lobbing it out of sight off to the side. The trombone solo continued for a while, and then suddenly, the mute comes flying out from the side of the stage again! Hilarious.





I do have to say, I was pretty impressed with the smooth dancing going on as well. The band played "Ramble On" which was a jazz funeral song. HCJ explained the jazz funeral concept, something he himself hopes to have one day, where they play a peppy, happy song to lift everyone's spirits after the service and to honour the passee. It was a gorgeous set filled with love for and the tradition of New Orleans. HCJ implored people to support the city now in its time of rebuilding and need, and if you want to go on a vacation sometime soon, New Orleans could really use your support. Right before leaving, some more humour - the band discussed theme songs and HCJ told one of his band members that he'd give him $100 right now on the stage if he could play the theme song to Johnny Quest. "You've got til the end of the night, the offer still stands. If you have to go backstage now and go on Google and look it up... what else can we play?" Someone yelled "Will & Grace!" which is of course the now-departed sitcom that HCJ starred in for a while as a doctor who married Grace and then dashed off to Guatemala. Oh the drama. "Will & Grace? Everyone knows that one!" he exclaimed, launching into a warp-speed version of said theme song.



They did do an encore. For some reason I still don't entirely understand, he told us about the massage he attempted to get before the show to relax. The underprepared (or perhaps just very-clever) masseuse didn't have a robe or towel for him to cover up in. She told him to "get undressed to your comfort level and lie down." He says he stared at her and said, "Honey, if you're standing right there, this IS my comfort level." His attempt to take a towel that was covering the table to lie under was thwarted by her telling him that towel was to protect the table from the oils. So he told her to leave.



This seemed to have nothing to do with the show at all, but he'd decided to tell us anyhow. Maybe he was just trying to drive the ladies in the crowd insane. He then launched into the encore song, "It Had To Be You." The entire room sighed when he began the first bar. It really was a sweet way to end the night. As the lights came back on in the theatre and I waited for the lines to clear before attempting to leave, I overheard the girls beside me ask one another if they get to take Harry Connick Jr. home with them now. Hah. On the way out the doors, Barbarin was standing by the tour bus signing autographs for fans and posing for pictures.



Amazing show.

Elsewhere

By Andy Scheffler
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : June, 2007.