Other Hours: Connick on Piano 1
With a career that's cast him as New Orleans jazz revivalist, crooner, Actor, and Broadway composer it's enough to make one ask: Who's therealHarry Connick, Jr.? Indeed, this warm foray into neo-bop, small ensemble instrumental jazz may only complicate the question. If nothing else, its genesis alone is compelling tribute to Connick's restless creativity and seeming resistance to pigeon-holing. All the songs here were written for (though not all used in)Thou Shalt Not, the musician's ambitious 2001 Broadway adaptation of Emile Zola'sTherese Raquinthat scored him a Tony nomination, if not stellar box office success. This low-key recasting only underscores the material's utilitarian strengths and gives Connick a chance to display chops as polished as they are playfully reverent to their inspirations. "Dumb Luck," "My Little World," and "What a Waste" recall the angular adventures of Monk, while the lyricism of Ned Goold's sax on "Can't We Tell" and "How About Tonight" points toward the best of Brubeck/Desmond. Melancholy and low-key as it may be, it's an album that gently underscores the jazz piano stylist corner of his resume. And if this is the fruit of Connick's Broadway failure, we can only hope he stumbles so gracefully in the future.--Jerry McCulley