Wild About Harry

He’s tall, dark and handsome, plays a mean piano and sings the standards--very well, according to critics. Jazzman Harry Connick Jr.--who’s only 21--is hot !

Consider: It was SRO during his recent four-week gig at the venerable Oak Room of NYC’s Algonquin Hotel. He recently wowed David Letterman’s audience with a bluesy New Orleans tune which segued into “Shake, Rattle & Roll.” The following day, reports a Connick rep, Letterman himself put in a call, to see if Connick could be a regular. Next Sunday, Connick hits NBC’s late-night music fest, “Sunday Night.”

Meanwhile, there’s a Connick piece in the current Newsweek and a “People” blurb in the latest Time. More coverage is due in GQ, Rolling Stone, Seventeen and Sassy. For Esquire, he’ll be featured in a photo spread on influential New Yorkers in their bedrooms--and Spin wants to include him in its upcoming bathing suit issue!

So how’s the piano man--who’s got two Columbia albums out--responding to all this attention?

“Ahhmm amazed--and totally flattered,” drawled Connick, adding modestly, “I guess my age, and the type of music I play, has a lot to do with all this.”

From New Orleans, where his dad is district attorney and his late mother was a judge, Connick’s been playing piano publicly since age 6, professionally since he was 13.

“New Orleans is kind of ‘in’ right now, ya know,” mused Connick, who’s single. “I don’t have an ounce of Cajun blood in me, but I think people assume I eat possum for breakfast. Maybe that’s why some folks are interested in me.”

Hitting the road, Connick’s got gigs set in Japan and Europe. He’ll do an L.A. stand at the Catalina Bar & Grill April 11-16.