BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
It’s a bit special when Harry Connick Jr. comes to town on the eve of Shrove Tuesday.
The gumbo-in-his-veins New Orleans native noted early in his sold-out show at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre that he was missing the Krewe of Orpheus parade – the one that he originated – to perform in Atlanta.
And the wicked wit of this die-hard Saints fan was quickly on display when he acknowledged the Atlanta Falcons’ new head coach.
"I was kinda hoping y'all would have gotten the Offensive Coordinator from the Seahawks," he drawled with a grin.
But the handsome Connick, sporting a black suit and artful scruff, wasn’t joking when it came to music.
Now 47, Connick’s talent, never a questionable trait, seems only to expand as he ages.
Whether working through the opening of “Just in Time” with his drummer, upright bassist and five-piece horn section or unspooling the classic bon-bon “The Way You Look Tonight,” Connick always adds an extra layer of musicality.
Even when not sitting behind his shadowy-silver grand piano and instead taking a stool center stage for the swoony “More,” Connick’s talents as an arranger are evident.
Back in his embryonic stage as a music star, around the time of “When Harry Met Sally” when it was common for detractors to diminish him as a Sinatra wannabe, Connick still always excelled as a musical coordinator, a young guy with an extraordinary ear.
That gift has only sharpened, as evidenced on his staccato playing, right heel pumping against the floor, during Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate On You” and the audience favorite, “It Had to Be You,” now redrawn to include fluttering saxophone and an aching bass solo.
Connick holds an obvious deep respect for his band. Most of the time, a smile crept across his face as he watched them take a solo. He frequently called band members out by name and, upon the arrival of trombonist Lucien Barbarin and guitarist Jonathan Dubose, ceded the spotlight.
After showcasing “some New Orleans piano playing,” his nimble right hand dancing while his left hand anchored with the bass notes, Connick playfully danced and goofed around with Barbarin. Proving a superlative trumpet player as well as a pianist (and percussionist), Connick played off Barbarin as they unfurled a giddy “How Come You Do Me Like You Do.”
The animated Dubose injected some gospel flair into the concert as the full band bulldozed through “Jesus on the Main Line” (and an amusing snippet of “Smoke on the Water”), before Connick played a strolling jazz-blues-big band fusion of “How Great Thou Art.”
His voice has always been more expressive than powerful, and Connick smoldered on “One Fine Thing,” with subtle flute adding a layer of sensuality.
But it was the period between a Professor Longhair-styled interlude and a detour into “Iko Iko” that observers felt the pure depth of Connick’s love of music.
First banging out a beat on the piano with one hand while playing with the other, then slapping out the rhythm with double palms and double feet, then circling the piano, banging on its sides without missing a beat and finally exploding into a crazy dance of visceral, loose-limbed joy before sliding back on the bench to complete “Iko Iko,” Connick was a marvel.
Forget about the “American Idol” stint – as astute a judge as he is – and the dabbling in films and TV. Music is, and always will be, what makes Connick’s heart beat.
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