I just learned about James Booker and how he gave lessons to a young Harry Connick Jr. Amazing how at 51 years old, I am still discovering musical legends on a regular basis!
And myself at 45. I bought Harry's album when I was 20 and LOVED IT. I have always loved the "Booker" song and have just found who he was. A genius, gay black man pianist, like myself. AMAZING. 💪🏆 Harry's a genius (and he can act!).
I love what he said here about "no escape". So true. Playing at a high level is PRESSURE or as Harry says here "Another set of problems" lay folks think playing music is always this romantic escape from reality. It's actually a much more precise form of reality..
"The people who know the most are always the nicest people." Harry, you are SO right! As you say, sure, part is they KNOW they're great and "good luck, Kid" is fun, but there's also joy in transmitting what you love to others. I never realized Harry was such a fine natural teacher, as he so obviously is! And what you say about drawing from such unlikely sources simultaneously as Chopin and Ray Charles, say - I think the term for being able to do that is "syncretic." It is in my own talent area, writing. What a terrific video!!!
Harry and James are both good people. I am proud to have been born just across the River from the city of New Orleans. I feel very fortunate to have grown up here and Southwest Louisiana. It's people like Harry and James who make me proud to call New Orleans and Louisiana home.
Yeah you right, Harry! Booker was the best on the keys. Fess invented a style, some ran with it with their own flavor. Toussaint, Dr. John, others. But Booker was awesome to witness. So sad that he didn't do more studio recordings. The live ones are OK, but, in person, live, he was awesome! So glad I got to see him a couple of times!
i love this video and i love Harry. He's so real with it! He knows what he can and can't do and just accepts it! He's definitely one of the best musicians of our time as well!
It's weird - when I was learning I'd listen to people like Harry, Dr John, etc., and feel like the mountain was too big to climb. But I'd plod away whilst I was supposed to be doing homework. Now, listening to his humility about how James drops his jaw, it's heartening to know we don't all need to be the best. I'm nowhere near these guys' level, but I sure enjoy it.
What I wish Harry understood (😛) is that there is such a deficit of New Orleans piano players on the world stage now. We need more recordings of classic New Orleans piano from Harry! Very few can carry the torch like HCJr. 😎✌️🦞
What a sweet tribute. Thanks for posting this. I got into James Booker’s music via Harry’s first record with his funk band and I’ve been a fan ever since. Thank you for the continuing education, Harry!
Harry Connick Jr is a fraud. He's not from New Orleans. He's from Weston, CT, where he attended public school from 1970-1982. He's pictured in all the public school yearbooks for that time. The only reason he's successful in show business is due to his father being one of the bigwigs at Sony Music and a stockholder in Sony Pictures. The father appeared in the movie Let's Make Love with Yves Montand and Marilyn Monroe and The Great Escape as well as had a singing career and cut a few records. He appeared under the stage name Frankie Vaughan. Remember, Connick Jr is a lying phony of tremendous proportions! Boo...
I don't give half a shit about the man's biographical information, or the man for that matter, beyond his ability to play piano & his propinquity to Booker. Fraud or fakery notwithstanding, he knows how to play the way I'd like to & learned to play that way from my favorite pianist of the twenty first century, which is something I deem enviable, hence my previous comment.
You are absolutely wrong about everything you wrote. His father was the DA of New Orleans for thirty years and not in entertainment. Connick Jr attended Jesuit High School, Isidore Newman School, Lakeview School, and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, all in New Orleans. He is a bad ass and has dedicated his time and money to bettering his home town.
An interest in the arts, in men, wasn't really accepted back in James's time either, especially in the south! Just imagine what his contribution to music could have been, had his race, homosexuality, and musical interests been more widely accepted by society; I mean people are still trying to comprehend his genius as it is. The man's talent was absolutely otherworldly! Good God! 🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹👑
Every time I listen to his intro and the red button comes up, when I click it, the intro video restarts and I can’t enroll. Ben, can you help? I would like to see the 3 prices you are offering. Best Regards, Tim
