Oh, My Nola is the 2007 CD by jazz musician and singer Harry Connick, Jr.. Done in honor of the people and spirit of Nola after Hurricane Katrina buttfucked the region, this was released on 30 January, 2007, featuring songs that represent what Nola is about. This was released by Columbia Records.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in the summer of 2005, musician Harry Connick, Jr. was one of the first people to lend not only his celebrity, but also his own two hands in aid to the survivors of the catastrophe. Connick brought a television crew with him as he traveled through his damaged hometown and shot footage to help draw attention to the situation. Soon after, he organized the benefit telethon A Concert for Hurricane Relief on NBC to raise money for the beleaguered residents of New Orleans. It was clear through all of this that Connick truly loved his hometown and perhaps even felt he owed the city a debt for all it had given to him. In that light, though he tastefully underplays his feelings about the tragedy, Connick's Oh, My Nola is clearly his response to Hurricane Katrina. But rather than making a one-note album filled with anger and sadness - though he expresses those emotions here, too - Oh, My Nola feels at once like a party-driven celebration of all that is New Orleans and a love letter to the city he almost lost. Featuring songs from, of, and about New Orleans, Oh, My Nola touches on almost every musical style that has come from the city and, in a similar sense, every style Connick has delved into over the years. For that reason it's his most expansive album to date, and finally finds the pianist/vocalist/arranger coalescing his eclectic tastes in jazz standards, stride piano, funk, Cajun, gospel, and contemporary pop under a unified vision that not surprisingly takes him back to the roots of New Orleans music.

To these ends, he turns Allen Toussaint and Lee Dorsey's classic R&B cut "Working in the Coal Mine" into a swaggeringly funky big-band workout. Similarly inventive, he does Hughie Cannon's traditional "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?" as a second-line-inspired big-band swing number reminiscent of his own When Harry Met Sally soundtrack. But while these numbers showcase Connick's obvious talent for arranging and crafting large ensemble numbers, other cuts such as the traditional "Careless Love" reveal his more laid-back, country-inflected barroom piano style that recalls his early solo albums 20 and 25. Mixing this approach, Connick once again returns to Toussaint with the spiritual and motivational "Yes We Can" in a loping and funky, large-ensemble style. Always a student of American popular song, it's no surprise that Connick's original compositions stand up next to the classic tracks here; however, it's also on these originals that he moves toward expressing his anger over what happened to the city. On the half-improvised, stark, and funky "All These People" Connick sings, "I was so damn scared I held hands and wandered with the crazy man, but he wasn't crazy and I wasn't scared/We were just brothers that stood there and stared at all those people waiting there." It's one of the few moments of outright protest on the album and deftly conveys Connick's first-hand account of post-hurricane New Orleans. However, listening to the whole of Oh, My Nola, it becomes clear that the true protest Connick is concerned with is a protest of the soul against events that conspire to erase all that we hold dear. This is best expressed in Connick's own title track. Set to a simple midtempo traditional New Orleans jazz beat, he sings, "How proud would Louie and Mahalia be, to know that their memory was safe with me?/Oh, my Nola, old and true and strong just like a tall magnolia tree/Sit me in the shade and I'm right where I belong/Oh, my New Orleans, wait for me."



01. Working In The Coal Mine
02. Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?
03. Something You Got
04. Let Them Talk
05. Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
06. Careless Love
07. All These People
08. Yes We Can Can
09. Someday
10. Oh, My Nola
11. Elijah Rock
12. Sheik Of Araby
13. Lazy Bones
14. We Make A Lot Of Love
15. Hello Dolly
16. Do Dat Thing
--
Harry Connick, Jr.-vocals, piano, organ
Neal Caine-bass
Arthur Latin-drums and percussion
Charles "Ned" Goold-alto saxophone solo on "Sheik Of Araby"
James Greene-alto saxphone
Jerry Weldon-tenor saxophone solo on "Jambalaya (On The Bayou)"
Mike Karn-tenor saxophone
Dave Schumaker-baritone saxophone
Roger Ingram-trumpet and flügelhorn
Derrick Gardner-trumpet
Mark Braud-trumpet solo on "Sheik Of Araby"
Joe Magnarelli-trumpet and flügelhorn
Mark Mullins-trombone
Craig Klein-trombone
John Allred-trombone and tuba
Lucien Barbarin-trombone solo on "Sheik Of Araby", "Lazy Bones", and "Hello Dolly"
Joe Barati-bass trombone
Jonathan Dubose Jr.-guitar, "the prophesying guitarist"

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS AND VOCALISTS
Something About You
Jonathan Dubose Jr.-background vocals
Tracey Freeman-background vocals
Arthur Latin-background vocals

All These People
Kim Burrell-vocals

Yes We Can Can
Geoff Burke-background vocals
Neal Caine-background vocals
Tracey Freeman-background vocals
Arthur Latin-background vocals
Evan Vidar-background vocals

Oh, My Nola
Jonathan Batiste-piano
Bill Huntington-banjo, background vocals
Leon Brown-trumpet, background vocals
Troy Andrews-trombone, background vocals
Lucien Barbarin-background vocals
Geoff Burke-background vocals
Vince Caro-background vocals
Tracey Freeman-background vocals

Sheik Of Araby
Lucien Barbarin-background vocals
Mark Braud-background vocals
Geoff Burke-background vocals
Craig Klein-background vocals
Mark Mullins-background vocals

###

All music arranged, orchestrated and conducted by Harry Connick, Jr.
Executive producer: Ann Marie Wilkins
Produced by Tracey Freeman

Recorded and mixed by Vince Caro
Mastered by Vlado Meller
Coordinating producer: Maria Betro
Recored at Right Track Recording Studios and Avatar Studios, New York, NY: June 19-22, 2006

Right Track Pro-Tools engineers: Bryan Pugh and Alex Venguer
Avatar Pro-Tools engineer: Anthony Ruotolo
Right Track assistant engineers; Hyomin Kang and Rick Kwan

Mixed at Macneck Inferno
Mastered at Sony Music Studios

Orchestra contractor: John Miller

Music preparation/copyist: Geoff Burke