Exploring how Harry Connick Jr. elevated ‘When Harry Met Sally’
As a wunderkind jazz pianist floating around his native city of New Orleans in the mid-1980s, Harry Connick Jr. had already gained quite a reputation for himself by his 21st birthday. With two albums to his name and a small following around his unique brand of lounge jazz, Connick was grabbing the attention of some prominent figures in the entertainment industry.
One of them was actor and director Rob Reiner, who had been given a tape of Connick’s music by Blood, Sweat and Tears drummer Bobby Colomby. As he explained on the DVD commentary for his seminal romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally…, Reiner was awestruck by how closely the young Connick resembled Frank Sinatra. Most major motion picture soundtracks opted for contemporary pop music, but Reiner wanted a unique angle to film, something more romantic and jazzy that fit the New York City setting.
When Reiner asked Connick to create the soundtrack for When Harry Met Sally…, Connick simply leaned into the same batch of jazz standards that made up his first two albums. That included songs recognisable to even the most casual jazz fans, like ‘But Not For Me’ and ‘Don’t Get Around Much Anymore’, Christmas classics like ‘Winter Wonderland’ and perfect additions to the film’s tone like ‘Autumn in New York’.
Connick was the main voice that audiences heard throughout the film, but after being inspired by his takes on the classics, Reiner opted to sneak in a few all-time great voices as well. Most notably, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald’s duet of ‘Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off’ provides a wonderful underscore to the odd couple chemistry between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. Even though Reiner loved Connick’s channelling of Sinatra, the director eventually opted to end the film with Sinatra’s version of ‘It Had To Be You’.
When the film and the soundtrack were released in the summer of 1989, Connick was given his first major platform as a contemporary artist. once the movie became a hit, Connick saw his career elevate to another level, eventually landing the When Harry Met Sally… soundtrack at number one on the Billboard Jazz and Blues albums chart. After going multi-platinum in the US, Connick also landed a Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance, an award that the singer would win again a year later for the album We Are In Love.
Check out Connick’s classic rendition of ‘But Not For Me’ down below.
