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 Harry Connick Jr. plays at the RBC Theatre at the John Labatt Centre last night. Singing a little like like Frank Sinatra didn't hurt his performance any and smoothed out tunes that might have come across as rougher. (Ken Wightman, Sun Media) |
LONDON - This star's piano and organ playing rivaled and complemented his vocal excellence.
Harry Connick Jr. is a star of many brilliant talents -- and just about all of them were lighting up the John Labatt Centre last night.
At the close of the stellar show before about 2,100 fans at the arena's RBC Theatre, Connick was the solo piano man, showing off his hometown love with a terrific Iko Iko, a New Orleans classic with great vocals and a piano that rumbled and flickered under Connick's touch.
Just before that, he had been the ultra-cool lounge guy with white shirt loose at the neck and sweetly accepting a fan's request for something from The Pajama Game, his hit Broadway musical.
Connick sang and played the lovely -- and "sexy" he pointed out -- version of Small Talk from the musical. He broke up laughing when a fan hooted -- with lust, perhaps? Or just because it was so quiet and charming and sexy? And that broke everyone up.
What else might a 100-minute show need? A star shaking his booty across the stage. Connick did that.
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A storytelling star who knows when not to shake his booty? Connick, in the encore, knew that. "A man can only shake his booty so much in 24 hours," he admitted.
Oh, the music, what about the music? Well, Connick's band proved that in an era of synths and backing tracks, there is no substitute for excellent musicians playing live -- and playing inspired arrangements for a leader they love to follow.
The star himself excelled at two pianos and an organ.
Songs and arrangements? There were so many good ones last night -- a sweet and slow Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans; a rousing Down by the Riverside and a swinging Bill Bailey.
Let one from Connick's Oh, My Nola CD stand for the rest. Jambalaya (On the Bayou) from Nola showed how Connick can pull off an amazing blend that is all his own. It's probably easy enough if you can sing a bit like Frank Sinatra deciding to smooth out a song by the Hillbilly Shakespeare Hank Williams while being accompanied by a brassy Count Basie's band with New Orleans funk master Ziggy Modeliste -- the Connick band's amazing Arthur Latin -- on drums.
Connick also brought his cute dog, Sam, on stage. One more reason to cheer for more.