| With very few exceptions, the career of Harry Connick, Jr. can be divided in half -- his first two albums encompassed straightahead New Orleans jazz and stride piano while his later career (which paralleled his rising celebrity status) alternated between more contemporary New Orleans music and pop vocals with a debt to Frank Sinatra. Born in New Orleans on September 11, 1967, Connick grew up the son of two lawyers who owned a record store. After beginning on keyboards at the age of three, he first performed publicly at six, and recorded with a local jazz band at ten. ... |