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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Harry Connick Jr.

Aired December 08, 2002 - 09:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Harry, come back. Harry Connick Jr. is here with us this morning; and he's trying to run out of here before he performs.
He's here to tell us about his new Grammy-award winning album "Songs I Heard." You're going to play a little bit of that for us.

HARRY CONNICK JR., MUSICIAN: I'll play some songs from "Mary Poppins." It's a CD I did for kids.

And these happen to be a bunch of very silly kids, very silly. Are you silly or what? They're very, very silly; they're troublemakers. During the commercial, they were making a lot of trouble.

CALLAWAY: And in fact, you're going to be performing for a bunch of children this afternoon in Atlanta.

CONNICK: That's right. We're playing a children's show -- two children's shows, as a matter of fact, and we've been doing that on the weekends. And it's been awesome; we're playing jazz music. Because, you know, a lot of kids don't get the chance to hear a lot of jazz. And it's fun to be able to play it for them.

CALLAWAY: Well, we appreciate you getting up early this morning. I know it's tough to sing early, but we want you to get right to it. I know you've brought your incredible band with you. What do you say?

CONNICK: Yes, these guys are the best.

CALLAWAY: Yes, they are. We've been listening to them already this morning. Give us a song, would you?

CONNICK: All right. This is from "Mary Poppins."

You ready, Lee?

(MUSIC)

Thank you very much. Thanks, kids.

CALLAWAY: That Julie Andrews version, that's always good.

That was fabulous.

CONNICK: Well, the Julie Andrews version is better than mine... CALLAWAY: No.

CONNICK: ... if only for the fact that she remembers the words. But that's what's good about jazz music, is you can kind of make up whatever you want, especially at this ungodly hour.

CALLAWAY: I love to see the kids dancing to the jazz music.

CONNICK: It's great.

And the guy with the green ball, he keeps throwing the ball at me all the time.

CALLAWAY: That's Miles' son.

You know, we love your music, but we also love you on television. "Will & Grace" has about been so much fun to see you on that show. What did she say, the line, your penetrated the inner circle?

CONNICK: Yes, it's a family show. For grown-ups (ph).

CALLAWAY: OK. You know, it seems so right at home at that, among the trio there. Now it's a foursome. Are you going to stay on the program?

CONNICK: I hope so. You know, it's a lot of fun and the actors and writers and Jimmy Burrows, the director, they're such great people.

The only reason I'm playing with this is to make me look official.

CALLAWAY: It's bothering you.

CONNICK: No, no. I'm trying to look -- Do I look official when I'm doing this? I'm a correspondent now at CNN.

This is CNN.

I don't have -- this does nothing at all. I don't even need this in my ear.

But I'm having a great time on "Will & Grace," and I hope I can get them to change the show name to "Will, Leo and Grace"...

CALLAWAY: OK.

CONNICK: I'd like to do that.

CALLAWAY: Well, we'd like to see you on a little bit more.

CONNICK: Thank you.

That joke didn't go over so hot. That wasn't so good. I'll have to cut that from the act.

CALLAWAY: Tell me about the response, when you've been around the country.

CONNICK: That's a bit personal.

CALLAWAY: No.

You're, like, answer the questions.

CONNICK: It's called sleep deprivation. I haven't slept, you see. What time is it?

CALLAWAY: Well, these kids really seem to enjoy the music. And you don't think about playing jazz for little kids.

CONNICK: That's right.

CALLAWAY: But they love it.

CONNICK: But you know, I remember growing up in New Orleans, and I would hear music like this, and it would make me happy. It was just happy music.

And the older I got, the more I would realize that it was very complicated music and there was a lot to learn about it. And I'm still learning about it.

And it's the kind of music that kids can enjoy, adults can enjoy and it's a lot of different levels to it. So I think it's great to expose, especially American children, to music that's from America, you know.

CALLAWAY: Well, let's hear another one, can we?

CONNICK: Yes.

This is the one with the really long title. You remember it? One, two, three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

CONNICK: Let's do it.

I like this thing in my ear.

(MUSIC)

Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 8, 2002 - 09:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Harry, come back. Harry Connick Jr. is here with us this morning; and he's trying to run out of here before he performs.
He's here to tell us about his new Grammy-award winning album "Songs I Heard." You're going to play a little bit of that for us.

HARRY CONNICK JR., MUSICIAN: I'll play some songs from "Mary Poppins." It's a CD I did for kids.

And these happen to be a bunch of very silly kids, very silly. Are you silly or what? They're very, very silly; they're troublemakers. During the commercial, they were making a lot of trouble.

CALLAWAY: And in fact, you're going to be performing for a bunch of children this afternoon in Atlanta.

CONNICK: That's right. We're playing a children's show -- two children's shows, as a matter of fact, and we've been doing that on the weekends. And it's been awesome; we're playing jazz music. Because, you know, a lot of kids don't get the chance to hear a lot of jazz. And it's fun to be able to play it for them.

CALLAWAY: Well, we appreciate you getting up early this morning. I know it's tough to sing early, but we want you to get right to it. I know you've brought your incredible band with you. What do you say?

CONNICK: Yes, these guys are the best.

CALLAWAY: Yes, they are. We've been listening to them already this morning. Give us a song, would you?

CONNICK: All right. This is from "Mary Poppins."

You ready, Lee?

(MUSIC)

Thank you very much. Thanks, kids.

CALLAWAY: That Julie Andrews version, that's always good.

That was fabulous.

CONNICK: Well, the Julie Andrews version is better than mine... CALLAWAY: No.

CONNICK: ... if only for the fact that she remembers the words. But that's what's good about jazz music, is you can kind of make up whatever you want, especially at this ungodly hour.

CALLAWAY: I love to see the kids dancing to the jazz music.

CONNICK: It's great.

And the guy with the green ball, he keeps throwing the ball at me all the time.

CALLAWAY: That's Miles' son.

You know, we love your music, but we also love you on television. "Will & Grace" has about been so much fun to see you on that show. What did she say, the line, your penetrated the inner circle?

CONNICK: Yes, it's a family show. For grown-ups (ph).

CALLAWAY: OK. You know, it seems so right at home at that, among the trio there. Now it's a foursome. Are you going to stay on the program?

CONNICK: I hope so. You know, it's a lot of fun and the actors and writers and Jimmy Burrows, the director, they're such great people.

The only reason I'm playing with this is to make me look official.

CALLAWAY: It's bothering you.

CONNICK: No, no. I'm trying to look -- Do I look official when I'm doing this? I'm a correspondent now at CNN.

This is CNN.

I don't have -- this does nothing at all. I don't even need this in my ear.

But I'm having a great time on "Will & Grace," and I hope I can get them to change the show name to "Will, Leo and Grace"...

CALLAWAY: OK.

CONNICK: I'd like to do that.

CALLAWAY: Well, we'd like to see you on a little bit more.

CONNICK: Thank you.

That joke didn't go over so hot. That wasn't so good. I'll have to cut that from the act.

CALLAWAY: Tell me about the response, when you've been around the country.

CONNICK: That's a bit personal.

CALLAWAY: No.

You're, like, answer the questions.

CONNICK: It's called sleep deprivation. I haven't slept, you see. What time is it?

CALLAWAY: Well, these kids really seem to enjoy the music. And you don't think about playing jazz for little kids.

CONNICK: That's right.

CALLAWAY: But they love it.

CONNICK: But you know, I remember growing up in New Orleans, and I would hear music like this, and it would make me happy. It was just happy music.

And the older I got, the more I would realize that it was very complicated music and there was a lot to learn about it. And I'm still learning about it.

And it's the kind of music that kids can enjoy, adults can enjoy and it's a lot of different levels to it. So I think it's great to expose, especially American children, to music that's from America, you know.

CALLAWAY: Well, let's hear another one, can we?

CONNICK: Yes.

This is the one with the really long title. You remember it? One, two, three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

CONNICK: Let's do it.

I like this thing in my ear.

(MUSIC)

Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com