Wow, Harry Connick really blows on piano

Cafe Society
1

On NPR today they were propagandizing about Harry Connick’s new album, “Occasion” (featuring also Branford Marsalis). I listened to the music, and something happens that doesn’t usually happen when I hear jazz played.

I thought, “This guy is truly, embarrassingly incompetent.”

Marsalis himself seemed fine, but the piano was awful. Out-of-rhythm, thinly textured, and just plain amateurish.

The thing is, usually in jazz you can doodle around, play it your way, avoid looking like a poor performer. So bad jazz playing is hard to forgive or understand.

I’ve heard plenty of Connick tracks, on many or most of which he’s presumably playing piano, and I’ve never had “Ocassion” to think he sucked. So I wonder what’s the deal with this new record. Poor production that doesn’t cover up his lack of skill? Or maybe my hearing was funny. I’m willing to entertain that thought. Tell me what you think.

2

Years ago, when Connick released his first album, my sister-in-law (who normally has pretty fair jazz taste) gave me a copy as a Christmas gift. I listened to the first two or three cuts, put the disc away someplace, never put it on again, sold it for a couple of bucks at a stoop sale a year or two down the road.

I’ve never since felt that my life is lacking anything by my not seeking out the latest musical stylings of Harry Connick.

That Branford Marsalis also appears on this new album guarantees that the slightest exposure would send me screaming from the room.

3

I know really nothing about him, but does he “blow” too? Is it style suckage or skill suckage–or both?

4

Brandon blows too?

5

I’m afraid I do not understand how you can tell when a jazz person is playing badly by accident or whether it is deliberate. (Obviously IMHO territory).

6

I agree with you.

I’ve never understood how 5 or 6 people playing different instruments and different tunes who all manage to finish the ‘song’ at the same time constitutes as jazz.

I think they are under a spell by Professor Dumbledore or something.

7

Wow - okay, YMMV. A few points:

  • Harry Connick is an excellent piano player, technically. Period. Took lessons from Ellis Marsalis (the brothers’ dad) and James Carroll Booker, the Art Tatum of New Orleans. HC won piano competitions from the time he was 10 on. I have not heard this recording, so obviously there could be something off on it. Note that I am NOT commenting on his choice of music or his “stylings” - Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey are all brilliant singers technically, but I can’t stand their stuff. My point is: a person is welcome to hate HC’s choice of music or stylistic interpretation, but to claim he is a bad piano player is simply naive.

  • Branford Marsalis - same thing. Brilliant technically - makes some choices in music and interpretation I really don’t like, but his musicianship is superb. You simply can’t have the track record he does, playing with the players he does and leading the Tonight Show Band for a year - without having awesome chops.

  • as for jazz and its incomprehensibility: well, if a person starts looking at modern art by jumping straight to the splashes on canvas of Jackson Pollock and thinks “I don’t get it - a kid could do it” - versus, starting at, say Impressionism, moving through Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, and a few other -isms, then arrives at Pollack - you may not like it (YMMV) but at least you can say “okay, I see where this is coming from.” Same with jazz - start with Louis Armstrong and swing with Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington, then move into Bebop, Hard Bop, Cool Jazz (Miles Davis Kind of Blue) etc. Just starting with jazz that is “out there”- which sounds like what you might have done - is very very tough - for anybody. But don’t sell out the genre, Shirley and seosamh just because you jumped into the deep end. Shirley I normally really enjoy your posts and think of you as funny and thoughtful. You should really give jazz a chance before you dismiss it that way.

All my $.02

8

I have had all kinds of jazz inflicted on me in the past. Some I must confess to have actually not violently disliked; in fact, I would almost go as far as saying that I positively like some of the big band stuff and Benny Goodman. They are the antithesis of what Ms Ujest described.

There are certain types of jazz which cause me to wretch. Just as do certain types of food (e.g. goat’s cheese, celery and cauliflower) and other artforms (e.g. the comedy stylings of Frank Skinner, country and western music).

It’s a cliche, I know, but de gustibus non est disputandum. My gustus just seems similar to Shirley Ujest’s.

9

Cool. And I agree - most of any art form is crap. I just want to avoid dismissing all of jazz because Ornette Coleman sounds like strangling cats. He is, as they say, way out there…

10

I dig jazz. Have listened to a lot. Connick just didn’t seem any damn good on this one record. I’m willing to believe that it’s my ear that one time or that recording only.

11

Hmm - sounds like I should check this one out, just to hear what is off about the piano sound…

12

Having only heard a couple of clips of the album on NPR, and not being remotely what you might call a jazz expert, my two cents:

It sounded kind of “wooden.” Tense and mechanical. Even amateurish. Not just Connick. Both of them. Did anyone else hear it that way? I don’t know Connick’s playing, but I did expect something more, um… cool from Marsalis, who I have heard elsewhere and liked.

13

Yeah, my take exactly. Sax not spectacular, but piano really awful. Like two old farts who hadn’t played in 20 years.

14

Okay - went to NPR.org and found a listing. listened to the one track they had listed “Remember the Tarpon”

Oh - okay, no biggie. I get it. Here’s the deal - he’s playing old school. It sounds like he is playing an upright piano - limited bass, plinky treble, but fast and responsive. The timing sounds off simply because he is playing big blocky chords - very much old school - a combo of dixieland chording, Red Garland (a premier jazz piano player who was known for his crashing, big-fingered chords as his rhythm section blazed through a jazz riff) and Thelonius Monk - who was known for blocky chords and hesitant timing that doesn’t sound “out” - random and screeching - but rather “off” - his chords often sound detuned or weird.

I hear some “stoppy and starty-ness” that can be tough to take - but overall the piece, to my ears, sounds nice and woody and retro. Not even remotely Smooth Jazz or melodic - it is not difficult in terms of sounding like each player is doing their own random stuff - but difficult in that one could not imagine a vocalist having an easy time singing over it.

Within the context of what he is doing - it is really well done. Again, YMMV.

15

breaks out the laser pointers

(Kudos to those of you who get the joke)

16

My 2-cents - and I am a great fan of jazz all the way from Armstrong through to Coltrane, Coleman, etc. - Connick is not and never has been a jazz stylist, he is a pop singer, period. Calling Connick a jazz performer is just wrong. He does not and has never (to the listening I have done) been an improviser. He and Branford (who is technically gifted, but like his brother Wynton) are totally incapable of anything original.

You are lowering the bar by saying “Connick” and 'jazz" in the same phrase or sentence.

17

And that is how Connick has been playing lately, not just in recordings but in live performances. It seems to be a conscious musical decision, perhaps imitating those elders. An acquired taste (which I haven’t acquired.)

18

I just wanted to quickly chime in with my thoughts on Harry Connick, Jr. in general. It think he’s definitely a compitent and accomplished piano player, and certainly a talented entertainer. I don’t mean this in any sort of dismissive, condescending way. I think he’s very good at what he does, and what he does I, at least, would classify as jazz. It’s New Orleans jazz in the style of Dr. John and Professor Longhair (though less agressive and inventive), but I feel it still qualifies.

The only Harry Connick, Jr. album I’ve owned is “20,” and I think he’s got some fantastic takes on it. His covers of “Avalon,” “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” (with Dr. John) and “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me,” are not merely competant, they’re truly soulful and nuanced takes.

Personally, I feel his pretty boy image has gotten in the way of his chops. I feel he is an accomplished musician–I just find his vocal stylings to be a little bit bland, especially compared to the other New Orleans artists he’s taken his cues from.

To say Harry Connick, Jr. is not an improvisor, frankly, baffles me. There’s plenty of improv in his music. Listen to “20” and you’ll hear it. Or, better yet, see him in concert. I’ve seen him exactly once, about 10 years, and was very impressed with his show. The man was far more energetic than you would think from listening to his records. And his piano solos was that fiery, rhythmic, in-your-face-yet-nuanced style you expect from New Orleans.

So, no, Connick does not blow on piano. No way. No how.

This latest record, well, I’m not sure what to make of it yet. I heard the one track. I don’t hear anything that sounds particularly amateurish on that. If anything, I feel that it’s Branford that sounds a bit wooden and soulless. I would have to listen to the rest of the record to really have a solid opinion. I’m simply neither amazed nor disgusted by this latest effort. If it sounds rhythmically off-kilter, I don’t know what to say. It doesn’t bug me. Remember, there’s no drummer to keep time, so these musicians have to read each other really well to stay in time. And, I think they stay pretty cohesive, overall.

19

Please forgive all the spelling, subject/verb agreement errors, and any other English language problems in the last post. Apparently this bottle of Bell’s Batch 7,000 (12% ABV) has gotten to me (well, that and all the Jack and Cokes.)

20

I think it may be skull suckage