Harry Connick, Jr. News

Ellis Marsalis Center for Music opens in Musicians' Village

Thursday, August 25, 2011
By Keith Spera
The Times-Picayune

On Wednesday afternoon, Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis kicked the proverbial tires at the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, the new, multimillion-dollar arts, educational and community center in the upper 9th Ward’s Musicians’ Village.
Marsalis Center for Music
They jokingly checked under classroom desks for gum. They strode the dance studio’s wood floor. They demonstrated the 1.5-millisecond echo in the 150-capacity, acoustically engineered performance hall.

Had such a facility existed when he was a boy, Connick marveled, “I would have been here every day.”

The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, named for Branford’s father, the storied jazz pianist and educator, officially opens today with a private celebration.

Gov. Bobby Jindal and Mayor Mitch Landrieu are expected to speak. Connick, the senior Marsalis, and Branford and several of his siblings are slated to perform.
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Submitted by Ben on August 25th, 2011 — 11:04am

ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC TO OPEN IN NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS’ VILLAGE

Ellis Marsalis Center for MusicELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC TO OPEN IN NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS’ VILLAGE

Center Named for Legendary Pianist and Educator Will Serve the Upper Ninth Ward and the Wider New Orleans Community


Musicians’ Village, Upper Ninth Ward, New Orleans, LA – August 8, 2011:  On August 25, 2011, as the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, one of the most positive responses to the catastrophe that devastated New Orleans will be unveiled – The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.  Located at 1901 Bartholomew Street in the heart of the Musicians’ Village in the Upper Ninth Ward, and named for one of the city’s most influential pianists, educators and living legends, the Center will serve as a state of the art facility for the preservation and ongoing development of New Orleans music and culture.
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Submitted by Ben on August 9th, 2011 — 04:21pm

American Girl Partners with 13-Year-Old Kate Connick and Her Father, Harry Connick, Jr.

IT’S A FIRST! AMERICAN GIRL UNVEILS TWO HISTORICAL CHARACTERS  SHARING ONE UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY THROUGH NEW ORLEANS IN 1853

Company Partners with 13-Year-Old Kate Connick and Her Father, Harry Connick, Jr.,
to Debut Original Song, “A Lot Like Me”

Middleton, WI—August 08, 2011: For the first time in American Girl’s 25-year history, the company is introducing two different historical characters, Cécile Rey™ and Marie-Grace Gardner™, in one six-book series set in 1850s New Orleans. The new characters—one African American and one Caucasian—show the power of friendship and community as they reach across the boundaries of race and class to help their families, friends, and city during a time of great need. To celebrate Cécile and Marie-Grace’s debut and the rich musical tradition of New Orleans, American Girl has partnered with 13-year-old Kate Connick and her father, world-renowned musician and actor Harry Connick, Jr., to create an original song—“A Lot Like Me”—with all proceeds benefiting the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in New Orleans.
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Submitted by Ben on August 8th, 2011 — 02:00pm

New Orleans Jazz: Charles Betts on the addictive music of Harry Connick, Jr.

Publication: Felix Online
Author: Charles Betts
Date: February 28, 2011

New Orleans music is an addiction. Its diversity portrays every emotional state and as the legendary jazz musician Ellis Marsalis puts it, at a time when individualism is becoming an endangered species, the sounds of the Bayou represent a celebration of the individual. Put simply, without it life would be emptier.

Harry Connick Jr. is arguably the city’s most famous living export, having obtained more number-one albums than any other artist in US jazz chart history. He has taken his native music across the globe, to the delight of audiences that stamp and cheer to the joyful noise. He has re-created the next-best thing to Mardi Gras at venues including the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, and on Broadway in New York.
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Submitted by Bobby on March 4th, 2011 — 12:29pm

Harry clowns around with Stephen Colbert

Harry Connick, Jr. appeared on The Colbert Report on March 2 to discuss his new CD/DVD release “Harry Connick, Jr - In Concert On Broadway,” the spirited Mardi Gras atmosphere in New Orleans, his first public performance at five years old, and the important work of the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music. Watch Harry and Stephen clown around together here on The Colbert Report website.

Submitted by Bobby on March 3rd, 2011 — 05:08pm