Haley and Harry Connick Jr...

[Himm2]

Note from Miguel:

This thread split from the "Things you wished you had asked Haley" thread.

---

Here's my serious question to Haley:

Now that it's confirmed that Jazzy Harry & Country Keith & Pop Diva J Lo will be judging how do you think you would do in their eyes if you were top 24 this coming season?

[My Alter Ego]

Here's my serious question to Haley:

Now that it's confirmed that Jazzy Harry & Country Keith & Pop Diva J Lo will be judging how do you think you would do in their eyes if you were top 24 this coming season?

Would you allow me to answer for them?

[My Alter Ego]

I do wonder what Harry would think of Haley???

MAE - Please answer what you think the new judges would say.

Well, first of all, I think both Keith and Harry would recognize and appreciate the unique qualities of Haley's voice.

Remember that every song that the Beatles ever wrote/performed is Keith's first or second favorite song, so once he learned of Haley's passion for the Beatles, those two would just click! I can imagine Haley singing some Beatles tune, and Keith would either be singing along with her or by his facial expressions, we would see how delighted he was with what he was hearing -- or maybe the combination of both.

Harry is a harder read -- and given what he told the contestants he mentored this year, I kind of wonder how he's dealing with auditions. (I recall hearing that the auditioners are advised to "show what they can do" and they only have 30 seconds, so they tend to throw all their vocal tricks into that short time frame. Harry, the mentor, wouldn't like that.) I think how Harry would react to Haley would largely depend on what she was singing and how many vocal tricks she was using. If she was singing something from her jazz "bag" such as Song for My Father, I think that Harry would be completely on board. But if she were singing her Oh Darlin' audition from a few years back, I'm not sure how enthusiastic he would be. In either case, I believe he would love the quality of her voice.

[NUG]

I do wonder what Harry would think of Haley???

MAE - Please answer what you think the new judges would say.

Well, first of all, I think both Keith and Harry would recognize and appreciate the unique qualities of Haley's voice.

Remember that every song that the Beatles ever wrote/performed is Keith's first or second favorite song, so once he learned of Haley's passion for the Beatles, those two would just click! I can imagine Haley singing some Beatles tune, and Keith would either be singing along with her or by his facial expressions, we would see how delighted he was with what he was hearing -- or maybe the combination of both.

Harry is a harder read -- and given what he told the contestants he mentored this year, I kind of wonder how he's dealing with auditions. (I recall hearing that the auditioners are advised to "show what they can do" and they only have 30 seconds, so they tend to throw all their vocal tricks into that short time frame. Harry, the mentor, wouldn't like that.) I think how Harry would react to Haley would largely depend on what she was singing and how many vocal tricks she was using. If she was singing something from her jazz "bag" such as Song for My Father, I think that Harry would be completely on board. But if she were singing her Oh Darlin' audition from a few years back, I'm not sure how enthusiastic he would be. In either case, I believe he would love the quality of her voice.

MAE - that would be my biggest fear with Harry Connick. He's a Jazz purist, I worry he wouldn't appreciate that fact Haley puts her spin on everything she touches. I would be heart broken to have him (and I don't consider him a Jazz "great" at all) put her down for adding her growly edge. I think Keith would be in the palm of her hand!!

[My Alter Ego]

MAE - that would be my biggest fear with Harry Connick. He's a Jazz purist, I worry he wouldn't appreciate that fact Haley puts her spin on everything she touches. I would be heart broken to have him (and I don't consider him a Jazz "great" at all) put her down for adding her growly edge. I think Keith would be in the palm of her hand!!

Well, maybe in Harry's mind he's a jazz purist, but I agree with you -- he's no jazz great. In my opinion, he has an unimpressive voice. But, as Kaypea has pointed out elsewhere, he is a musician. He does know music and he has been in the business for a long time. While we know what he was like as a mentor, we don't know what he'll be like as a judge. They are different roles.

On the other hand, just thinking about how Keith would react to Haley makes me smile. While Keith was far more articulate than Steven Tyler, like Tyler (but more so), Keith visually displays his reactions. I think it would be delightful to watch him watch/listen to Haley.

Getting back to the topic of this thread, I don't have a question so much, but if I had the opportunity, I'd just like to get Haley in a corner and chat about music with her.

---

Babbs you're a beautiful stalker! I just figured it out...you know how you pointed out several times to me, "Where's your gift for Haley, Buzz?" Now I know why Harry was giving me the stink eye. I completely forgot about the Birthday thing...does that surprise anyone...that Buzz could be so clueless?

But Haley didn't bring a Birthday gift for Buzz and his birthday is today, sooner than Haley's actual one is!:
http://www.haleyfans.com/showthread.php?tid=1852

So, Buzz:

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Sir Buzzalot---Happy birthday to you!

There -- I just sang to you!

[buzzenator]

^ Thanks MAE, It's too bad you didn't make it to the Shindig and the karaoke contest. You would have won with that performance...wait, I won the karaoke contest by shooting a hoops game of HALEY on the basketball court...go figure.

[My Alter Ego]

MAE - that would be my biggest fear with Harry Connick. He's a Jazz purist, I worry he wouldn't appreciate that fact Haley puts her spin on everything she touches. I would be heart broken to have him (and I don't consider him a Jazz "great" at all) put her down for adding her growly edge. I think Keith would be in the palm of her hand!!

Well, maybe in Harry's mind he's a jazz purist, but I agree with you -- he's no jazz great. In my opinion, he has an unimpressive voice. But, as Kaypea has pointed out elsewhere, he is a musician. He does know music and he has been in the business for a long time. While we know what he was like as a mentor, we don't know what he'll be like as a judge. They are different roles.

On the other hand, just thinking about how Keith would react to Haley makes me smile. While Keith was far more articulate than Steven Tyler, like Tyler (but more so), Keith visually displays his reactions. I think it would be delightful to watch him watch/listen to Haley.

Getting back to the topic of this thread, I don't have a question so much, but if I had the opportunity, I'd just like to get Haley in a corner and chat about music with her.

While I'm uncomfortable responding to my own response above, I felt that I should provide an addendum. While I generally listen listen to classical music at work (because it helps soothe my stress), during the summer I need something else, and jazz is generally my fallback. So this summer I discovered -- or rediscovered -- a local jazz/NPR station that now has some online channels that are strictly music.

Today that station played HCJ's recording of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. It's not Manhattan Transfer a cappella sublime (and that's not my favorite a cappella song that they sang), but it's pretty darn good and echoes what he told this past year's contestants, so I may need to withdraw my earlier contention.

[Miguel]

(HCJ) has seven top-20 US albums, and ten number-1 US jazz albums, earning more number-one albums than any other artist in the US jazz chart history.

---

He was 22 (Haley's current age) here:

Bobby Colomby, the drummer for Blood, Sweat & Tears and a friend of director Rob Reiner, recommended Harry Connick, Jr., as the musician to work with on the soundtrack. When Reiner listened to the tape Colomby gave him, he was struck by Connick's voice and how it sounded like a young Frank Sinatra. The movie's soundtrack album was released by Columbia Records in July 1989. The soundtrack consists of standards performed by Harry Connick, Jr., with a big band and orchestra arranged by Marc Shaiman. Connick won his first Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance.

Arrangements and orchestrations on "It Had to Be You", "Where or When", "I Could Write a Book", and "But Not for Me" are by Connick and Shaiman. Other songs were performed as piano/vocal solos, or with Connick's trio featuring Benjamin Jonah Wolfe on bass and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums. Also appearing on the album are tenor saxophonist Frank Wess and guitarist Joy Berliner.

The soundtrack went to #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart and was within the top 50 on the Billboard 200. Connick also toured North America in support of this album. It went on to reach double-platinum status.

[taperjean_girl]

I think Harry would've loved some of her performances but maybe not all. I think Keith would've really loved her though. Hes open to spontaneity and creativity in songs judging by his own covers of songs. And they have very similar tastes in music. Both love classic rock and blues especially the beatles and the first song Keith ever learned to play was House of the rising sun.

[Swansteel]

I still remember getting the We Are In Love album and thinking to myself, if I could sing like anyone in the world I would want to sing like Harry Connick, Jr. I thought he was great back then. Just imagine if he were a young man in the 1940's? He probably would have been a huge star in musicals.