Think of Babe: Elaboratio as a kind of intimate libretto to accompany Harry Connick, Jr.'s original composition, the piece for big band and orchestra that he wrote in honor of what would have been his mother's 100th birthday. Babe serves as a guide to what is happening in the music--themes that tap into his mother's Hungarian and Russian roots, and, of course, New Orleans jazz.
Anita-Francis Livingston Connick was born on May 22, 1926, in New York City, and died when her son was just 13 years old. Yet the author/composer remembers her with clarity, including her love of music of all kinds (she started a record store in New Orleans called Studio A) and her lasting legacy as a judge. She earned the nickname "Babe" as the youngest of six children; the musical phrase of the notes B-A-B-E appears throughout the musical piece. Connick describes the melodic themes that accompany moments in her life, both upbeat and melancholy, with elements of classical music and jazz. He also explains the use of certain instruments and changes in tempo. He includes important musical bars so that novices may see how music is notated and musicians may see how the various instruments come together. Connick's humor infuses this musical memoir, and he includes a bounty of family photos.
Connick calls the experience of composing this piece akin to "writing a score for a movie that only I could see but wanted everyone to hear." His loving descriptions are thus likely to move readers with a desire to listen, and a QR code to purchase the music appears at the end of the book. --Jennifer M. Brown