As touring was not an option for him, or anyone, at the time, Harry Connick Jr. made an album.
Quarantining meant that there were no other musicians around, so he made the album, “Alone With My Faith,” by himself at home in Connecticut.
Check out the schedule:Cincinnati's 2021 concert calendar 🤘🤠
The album is now out, and Connick is now out of his house. He’s hitting the road on a tour that stops in Cincinnati.
Prior to the beginning of the tour, he talked about the homemade album and about the city where his heart is, his hometown of New Orleans.
Question: You’re calling this tour “Time To Play.” Why did you pick that name?
Answer: I think it’s time for us to go out and get back to some music. It’s been a long time. When the idea of going back out on the road started in a conversation between me and my manager, it felt like the right time to go out. I think anytime before that would have been inappropriate for lots of reasons. We’re ready to play, and I would hope that people are ready to hear some music.
Q: The tour’s press release says you will be showcasing your New Orleans influences. What do you have in mind?
A: I don’t have much to do with those press releases. I think everything I do probably shows my New Orleans influences. But this tour is just going to be a bunch of songs. It’s not like I’m promoting any particular album. We all just want to go out and play. I’ll just be playing probably different songs every night and basing what I play on the audience that particular night and have a fun musical party atmosphere.
Q: I guess I homed in on that part of the press release because, to me, New Orleans is the most important music city in America. So I wrote a couple questions about New Orleans music if that’s OK.
A: Of course.
Q: My five favorite New Orleans artists are Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair and the Meters. Is that a respectable list? Whom should I put on there instead and whom should I remove?
A: It would be hard to narrow it down to five. I think you have a fantastic list. The most obvious omission is James Booker, since he was by far the greatest pianist to come out of New Orleans, and I’m throwing him in there with Jelly Roll, too. I don’t think anyone was able to do what James was able to do. I’d put Jelly Roll second, if not tied with James. You talk about Jelly Roll, and Pops (Armstrong), and Fats Domino, and Dr. John and the Meters. But if you’re going to put Dr. John on there, you have to put Booker on there.
Q: I had Professor Longhair, not Dr. John. And I went in chronological order. That wasn’t a one-through-five ranking.
A: Oh, I see. So if you put Fats on there, too, you have to put Booker, because Booker was just the king. What it boils down to is what you like, and everybody likes different stuff, and that’s what makes New Orleans so cool. When you think of Ellis (Marsalis Jr.), and then you think about Wynton (Marsalis). Wynton is one of those guys where he’s such a freak of nature, that I think it’s hard for people to comprehend it, so maybe 50 years from now, people will get it. Same with Branford (Marsalis). Nicholas Payton. Believe me, we could spend hours on this one.
Q: How well did you know James Booker?
A: I knew him really well. He died when I was 16. I knew him from the time I was about 7. I didn’t know Fats Domino. I knew Dr. John, Ellis and Art Neville and all those guys. I was real close with James.
Q: When you’re a kid hanging out with James Booker, were you aware of his drug habit and that sort of thing? Did your dad care that you were hanging out with a heavy cat like that?
A: That’s a really interesting question, and he did. When you look at somebody in their totality, which is what my dad did, James was extremely troubled. He had drug problems and alcohol problems, and he had some pretty serious mental issues he was dealing with, but in addition to all that, he was an incredibly kind man, and a good man, and I think my dad saw that. So it wasn’t like I was on the road with a bunch of guys doing drugs. James never did that stuff around me. He drank around me. James knew what time it was, and my dad knew what time it was. They had a mutual respect for one another, and my dad knew I wanted to be a musician, and just like in almost every occupation, there’s drugs and alcohol, and it was no exception. But my dad kept a close eye on me and was a good influence on me. It makes for an interesting dynamic, though, when you think about my dad being the DA and a guy (Booker) who had spent some time in Angola (prison). My dad never worried about me, never worried about James. James was always real cool.
Q: Is there a book that goes into depth about this story, the district attorney whose kid becomes a musician and hangs out with James Booker?
A: Not really. Maybe one day there will be though.
Q: Are you going to write a book?
A: I think at some point. I’d like to get a few more years under my belt. Give myself something to say. It’s not quite time for an autobiography yet.
Q: You just made an album by yourself. Is that something you’d like to do again?
A: I loved it. And yeah, it was because I couldn’t have anybody around. I loved every part of it, but I was over my head in some parts. There are people who are really brilliant recording engineers, and there are really brilliant trumpet players and guitar players. I played all the instruments. There’s no fake instruments on it. That’s all real. There’s a Hammond Novachord on that thing, and those are real trumpets, real drums. Even the drum machines are real analog drum machines. There was no GarageBand involved in this. People nowadays can get a lot of those sounds just by playing into a MIDI keyboard, but those are all real instruments. Getting drum levels by yourself is not the easiest thing in the world to do, because you’re running back and forth from the drums to the console, so there are certain workflow issues that can be remedied by having maybe one person there, so I don’t know if I’m going to rush to go do that again, but I loved it. It was eight months of a lot of hours singing a lot of background vocals. It was cool. It was a fun process.
Q: I don’t know if you’d remember when you were on “American Idol” in 2014, there was a woman at an audition playing the piano. She wore a big floppy hat. Her name is Jess Lamb. She asked you to play with her, and you did. She’s from here in Cincinnati.
A: I do. I do remember that. That was fun. And that means something because we saw hundreds and hundreds of people. But I do remember her. I hope she’s doing well.
Q: She’s still playing music.
A: That’s fantastic.
If you go
What: Harry Connick Jr.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7.
Where: Riverbend Music Center, 6295 Kellogg Ave., Anderson Township; 513-232-5882.
Tickets: $23.50-$149.50.
Source link
