Love, like the music of Harry Connick, Jr., is a many splendored thing. In fact, Harry's latest Columbia album, To See You, is a full 75 minutes of love noir, a musical take on an Edward Hopper cityscape where midnight lovers steal kisses along rain-soaked boulevards. This is Harry's album of love songs, his homage to the passions of the heart. And, because it's Harry Connick, Jr., it offers a scope of musicality and lyrical craftsmanship rarely encountered these days. Actually, for Harry, To See You is the fulfillment of several musical dreams: he long desired to record an album for jazz quartet as well as to write ballads for full orchestra. After a flight attendant asked Harry to recommend one of his albums for "romantic purposes," the artist realized he'd never actually devoted an entire album to songs of love and romance. Then and there he resolved to do so. When the time came to write and record, he folded all of his ideas into one, resulting in Harry's most musically ambitious recording to date. "This album is very much American," says Harry, who not only played piano and sang lead vocals, but also wrote, arranged, orchestrated, and conducted every track. "The songs combine the classical influence of the orchestra with the American popular song form. I surrounded the quartet with the orchestra, so between vocal/orchestral passages, the quartet would play. Then the orchestra would come back in. It really was a unique experience." Which made for unique music. In keeping with Harry's mission of creating an album of romantic mood music, every track is a sensual adagio. "Let Me Love You Tonight" offers a solitary prayer of good fortune in an evening's search for love. The melancholy orchestral intro and Harry's warm vocals give way to the smoky, sultry communion among the members of Harry's quartet: tenor saxophonist Charles Goold, bassist Reginald Veal, and drummer Arthur "Bam Bam" Latin, along with Harry on piano, of course. "To See You," the album's title track, is a short, lush song originally written for the score to the film “One Fine Day.” Laughs Harry, "My albums are full of rejected movie themes. This song expresses a simple sentiment: sometimes you just have to see your lover's smile." On "Let's Just Kiss," Harry employs rich orchestral colors to exalt that first brush of lips, while on "Heart Beyond Repair," Harry sings among the warm whispers of his quartet alone. The solos (Harry's in particular,) which echo the song's anguished confession of love betrayed; deconstruct the melody in smoldering syncopation. "There were a lot of improvisational elements in play with the quartet," says Harry. "It's difficult to do that with the 50 players in an orchestra, but with the quartet we can go anywhere we want to." "Once," an earnest appeal from an ardent lover, feature some of the album's loveliest melodies, while "Learn To Love" offers a healthy measure of Harry's home-brewed New Orleans jazz. Trumpeter Leroy Jones' brash and ballsy solo serves as fitting counterpoint to the horns' growl and the strings' subtle swing, as Harry sings of love's capricious ways. More pugnacious horns and tremulous strings accent "Love Me Some You," a way down tempo tale of a man in an awful hurry to meet his lover. "Much Love" is a darker piece, with a long, highly poetic lyric about the yearning for deliverance through love. The impish "In Love Again," scored for violin, viola, cello, bass clarinet, trumpet, and the quartet, is a Daliesque portrait of incipient love, while the album's concluding piece, "Loved By Me," sports frisky strings and smart lyrics about a secret lover who admires from afar. Harry's brilliantly intricate solo and a whimsical coda by the orchestra end the album, but the warm, dark mood of romance lingers long after the music stops. These days, Harry is very much the family man, with two young babies now blessing the Connick home. Yet he has learned to distinguish between personal happiness and artistic striving. "I am very happy in my personal life right now," he says, "but it doesn't really have an effect on the music. I've always believed inspiration undermines the creative process. If I had to wait for a beautiful sunrise before I could create, I'd never write anything." It's always anyone's guess, but one thing is certain: whatever Harry Connick, Jr., does, on screen or in music, it is always a most honest and heartfelt expression of artistic integrity. "When Miles Davis or Louis Armstrong played, they never produced a note that didn't need to be played," says Harry. "The great musicians are the ones that make the most interesting choices." That's probably why his many fans all around the world choose Harry over and over again. Musicians Harry Connick Jr. - Vocals, Piano Reginald Veal - Bass Charles Gould - Tenor Saxophone Arthur "Bam Bam" Latin - Drums Production Credits All songs written, arranged and orchestrated by Harry Connick Jr. Produced by Tracey Freeman Recorded and mixed by Vince Caro Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, August 4-10, 1997 Capitol Engineers - Peter Doell, Dan Thompson Mixed at Sony Music Studios, NYC Sony Engineers - Jim Caruana, Robb Williams Mastered by Vlado Meller at Sony Music Studios, NYC