The many faces of Harry Connick Jr.

The problem with Harry Connick Jr. is that there are too many sides to him that you never know which one you will meet. Take for example, Harry, the actor. You see him at the Tony Awards performing numbers from the revival production of Pajama Game on Broadway where he starred and got lead actor nominations from the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and the Drama League.

Then you probably also saw him on TV as Lt. Cable on South Pacific with Glen Close or the heartthrob doctor on the series Will & Grace. I am sure everybody remembers him as the heroic pilot of Independence Day and as Sandra Bullock’s handsome leading man in Hope Floats. More recently he was the bumbling, endearing Daniel in P.S. I Love You.

Things are even worse with Harry, the recording artist. You get a CD that has Harry Connick Jr. on the cover titled Occasion and you expect to listen to some swinging big band music like what he did for the score of When Harry Met Sally. But what do you get, laid-back, introspective sax and piano duets by Harry and Branford Marsalis. Wow, very impressive but not quite what you expected.

The sublime balladeer of the recent Only You where he sings More, My Prayer and Goodnight My Love comes close to popular tastes. My favorites in this area are We Are in Love done early in his career with Charade, Love for Sale and Cry Me a River and the even better, Songs I Heard which has movie songs like Pure Imagination and Edelweiss. It is these albums which present the sort of Harry we believe we know best.

But then there is also Harry, the pianist, composer and bandleader, playing his own works for a jazz trio in Lofty’s Roach Souffle, for a big band in To See You or a funk group with Star Turtle, which tells the tale of a turtle from outer space. There is even a complete musical, Thou Shalt Not for which he got a Tony nomination for Best Original Score.

 And before all these, there was Harry, the child prodigy who made his first recording as a jazz pianist when he was only 11 years old. The album was simply titled 11 and has him doing Muskrat Rumble and Lazy River. By the time he was 19, he was a full blown success as a singer with the album Harry Connick, Jr. and it was here that Harry, classy, loose and swinging like a cool cat of old was born.

There are just so many well-tested and I must add acclaimed facets to Harry that one will surely swear off calling anybody multi-talented after learning about this guy. Maybe it was all because he was born and bred in New Orleans, cradle of American jazz music. The music came with his birthright as the son of a district attorney who was also a jazz musician. He made his performing debut when he was only five years old and has been unstoppable ever since.

Those are not all there is to Harry. Aside from his acting, singing and other ventures as an entertainer, Connick serves as honorary chair of Operation Home Delivery, Habitat for Humanity’s hurricane relief effort for New Orleans. A portion of his royalties earned from the sales of his last two albums, Oh, My Nola and Chanson du Vieux Carre benefit the New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village.

So what sort of Harry is Manila going to meet when he performs this Saturday at the PICC Plenary Hall? He has his big band in tow so I suppose there will be lots of blowing and swinging and finger snapping in store for his Filipino fans. So move over Bublé and company. The master is taking center stage and there is really nothing quite like this guy.

Harry Connick Jr. and His Big Band Live in Manila is presented by Globe and MTV Philippines. Call Ticketworld at 891-9999 for tickets.

Meanwhile, it looks like local pop concert lovers will continue to enjoy more prime quality performances from foreign artists throughout the year. As of now, hot names expected to show up for shows are Sean Kingston, the Click Five, the Osmonds featuring Donny and Marie, James Blunt and for the umpteenth time, the Lettermen. Expect more names to be added to that list soon.