OTTAWA - The hottest ticket in town wasn't at the Ottawa Jazz Festival's main stage in Confederation Park last night.
Instead it was a few blocks away at the Library and Archives Canada, where some 800 lucky people caught two, 90-minute-plus shows marking the first time in their illustrious careers that jazz greats Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis have performed on stage together.
The 37-year-old pianist and 44-year-old saxophonist are old buddies, both hailing from New Orleans, first meeting when Connick learned his craft from Marsalis' musical patriarch dad, Ellis.
During the first show -- a world premiere which will be documented in the future release of a DVD filmed last night -- the pair delighted the crowd in an intimate venue that felt more like a living room than an auditorium.
Many clutched signed copies of Occasion, the pair's second collaboration in the Connick on Piano series from Marsalis' record label.
This was not the Connick who was backed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra in the upbeat main stage show of the night before.
Though he relaxed as the evening wore on, it was an earnest musician who took to his beloved Steinway at the beginning of the show.
It was so quiet Connick's right heel tapping along to opening piano solo After You've Gone echoed like a drum beat.
Connick was clearly humbled. When he introduced Marsalis after two tunes, he called their musical collaborations "a dream."
"This is one of my heroes basically saying to me, 'Would you like to be part of my jazz family?' " he said.
The pair -- somehow seeming still like student and mentor, even after all these years -- were perfectly in synch throughout the night.
On Valentine's Day, they finished in such unison it was like they both landed on the head of a pin.
They were sweet and serious on I Like Love More, from Connick's Broadway show Thou Shalt Not. They bickered playfully over whether the jumpy ode to a good piece of New Orleans perch, Spot, started in B-flat or E-flat.
Connick joked about their both being Virgo, about wanting to be in Marsalis' band so much he might even do something illegal to off a member, about being "the lost white Marsalis."
Connick's wide, boyish grin after every tune and Marsalis' very occasional murmurs of approval showed just how much the pair were enjoying themselves.
Their infectious, pure musical joy remained until Marsalis' last, low notes during an encore ode to their home city's French Quarter faded away, and the audience leapt to their feet in wild applause.
Over in Confederation Park, about 1,000 people turned out to see the brash, big-band sounds of the Hugh Fraser Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation.
The Juno Award-winning trombonist/pianist/composer led the veteran group of some 16 musicians in a mostly instrumental show peppered with inventive vocal gymnastics from Christine Duncan.
SUN RATING: 4 out of 5
