Alumni

Hot Chops, Cool Calculations
Tuey Connell ’90 Puts Together a Musical Life

By Rand Smith
 
What do Earl Scruggs, Mel Tormé, Wes Montgomery, and Howard Schultz have in common? At first glance, there seems little to connect the maestro of bluegrass banjo, the honey-voiced chanteur, the guitar wizard, and the founder of Starbucks. But factor in alum Tuey Connell ’90, and the equation changes. Since graduation, this Connecticut native has built a career that seems to channel all of these giants as he tours and records his unique blend of music.

A shrewd student of both the artistic and the business side of music, Tuey blends banjo and guitar virtuosity, a smooth vocal style, original songwriting, and savvy business sense — talents that are securing him a niche as one of the most original young talents on the national and international jazz scene.

To this admittedly biased observer — I knew Tuey “back when” he was a Lake Forest College student playing in talent shows — he has developed a complete musical vision along with the ability and determination to make it a reality.

My former student laid out that vision in late February over a Chinese lunch in downtown Lake Forest, where he had returned late the night before from a gig in Louisville. He and the other members of his trio (drummer Joe Strasser and bassist Neal Miner) were in the midst of a seven-week midwestern road tour playing dates from Dayton to Dubuque with stops in Chicago, Minneapolis, and even the Lake Forest College Coffeehouse along the way.

“I don’t want to sound immodest, but nobody’s really doing what I do. I think I’ve got unique sound to offer,” Tuey said. Start with a complete command of his two instruments, the banjo and jazz guitar. The banjo came first, with Tuey learning Scruggs-style bluegrass picking as a teenager, then moving beyond under the influence of perhaps the instrument’s most original stylist, Béla Fleck, who incorporates jazz, funk, and even classical elements into his music.

When I first met Tuey in the late 1980s, he was deep into his Béla period while majoring in English and music at Lake Forest. The guitar came several years later, when Tuey decided to broaden his sound. In just four or five years of intense work, he mastered the jazz guitar fret board. He now alternates the two instruments seamlessly in his concerts and CDs.

Then comes his voice, a resonant baritone with warm overtones. As was evident in his recent performance at the Coffeehouse, Tuey has become a skilled vocalist in the Mel Tormé–Johnny Hartman tradition, sometimes picking up a mic to interpret a song using only bass and drums backup. His live performances showcase a growing body of original songs incorporating elements of blues, funk, soul, jazz, and even bluegrass, and Tuey delivers them with a genial, informal stage presence.

As gifted as he is musically, Tuey realizes that a musical career takes more than artistic inspiration; it also takes business sense and a long-term perspective. At this still-early stage in his career, Tuey is banking on the long haul by retaining ownership of his recordings. This means that he fronts his own studio expenses, then licenses his recordings to record labels for a specific period, usually between five and ten years. By keeping all ownership rights, Tuey will always have control over what happens to his music. His current licensing arrangement is with the German jazz label Minor Music, which is distributing his latest CD, “Under the Influence.”

“Every year I sit down and do a business plan,” Tuey says. “Where do I want to be a year from now? I love making music, and I want to be a professional musician the rest of my life. Having a plan is the only way to make it happen.” With that kind of realistic approach coupled with his formidable musical skills, Tuey Connell is set to make a lot of things happen, for a long time. For some tasty musical samples, visit his Web site: www.tueyconnell.com.
 
Rand Smith is the Irvin L. and Fern D. Young Presidential Professor of Politics at the College. He plays the guitar and mandolin and is a member of the all-faculty band “Fast and Cheap.”