Star in multiple arenas doesn’t care what people know him for as long as they know him By George Varga, POP MUSIC CRITIC Music is Harry Connick’s first love, but his experiences as a Hollywood actor has paid dividends when it comes to performing songs made famous by others and putting his own stamp on them. A key case In point is “Mona Lisa,” the closing track on Connick’s latest album, “Your Songs.” Written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for the 1950 Alan Ladd film “Captain Carey,” “Mona Lisa” was originally recorded by Nat “King” Cole. His version topped the pop charts for nearly two months in 1950, a prelude to Evans and Livingston sharing an Academy Award for Best Song. “Mona Lisa” has been covered numerous times over the years, by everyone from Elvis Presley and Conway Twitty to Cole’s daughter, Natalie. No one, though, has matched the original version, which is why Connick decided it was best not to be too reverent to Cole’s 1950 classic. “It’s not about being reverent to another performer or composer,” Connick said. “I could care less, although I wouldn’t change the lyrics.” Instead, he changed the vocal phrasing significantly from Cole’s. And he decided to approach the song not by emulating Cole, but as an actor whose inspiration came from a backstory he created for “Mona Lisa’s” bewitching title character. “I love Nat Cole, but I don’t know what he was thinking about when he sang it,” Connick noted. “When I sing it, I have something very particular in mind, a subtext — not even a subtext — a storyline in my head. A song like that, as soon as you say ‘Mona Lisa’s’ name, as an actor I start thinking about a mysterious woman in a bar in New Orleans. She comes there all the time and has this odd look on her face that’s sexy and mysterious. Everybody calls her ‘Mona Lisa’ because she doesn’t say anything. I start thinking about her and, before you know it, the song is over.” At 42, Harry Connick, Jr., hasn’t come close to doing it all. But he’s done more than enough to create confusion among some of his fans, as befits a veteran film and TV actor, Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical star and multiple Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, pianist and bandleader with album sales of more than 25 million over the past two decades. “I just want to be remembered, man. I don’t care how, and I don’t care what people know me for,” said the New Orleans-born Connick, who performs here Sunday at Pechanga Resort & Casino and next Thursday at Copley Symphony Hall. “People will ask me: ‘What are you doing in San Diego?’ I’ll say: ‘I’m on a concert tour.’ They’ll ask: ‘What do you play?’ I’ll answer: ‘Piano.’ Then, they’ll say: ‘Piano? We thought you played a doctor on ‘Will & Grace.’ ” Connick indeed had a recurring guest role as Dr. Leo Markus, the philandering husband (and then ex-husband) of Debra Messing’s Grace Adler on “Will & Grace.” He’s also co-starred in more than a dozen feature films, including hits (“Independence Day,” “Hope Floats”) and misses (“Wayward Son,” “Copycat”), and starred in such hit Broadway musicals as “Pajama Game” and “Thou Shalt Not.” Then, there’s his enduring career as a performing and recording artist (his debut album, “Dixieland Plus,” came out when he was just 9 and featured him alongside some of New Orleans’ top trad-jazz artists). Now a happily married father of three daughters (ages 7 to 13), he also created the software for computerized music stands, in which the arrangements for songs appear on an illuminated screen, not bulky sheets of paper, and can be changed with the touch of a button. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, Connick was instrumental in organizing a national telethon that aired on NBC and featured everyone from Faith Hill and Tim McGraw to Mike Myers and Kanye West. He then teamed with jazz sax great (and fellow Big Easy native and friend) Branford Marsalis to spearhead the funding and construction of Musicians Village, a Habitat for Humanity community in New Orleans for musicians displaced by Katrina. (See accompanying story.) Given his success in so many different realms, one can only wonder: Is there anything Connick isn’t good at doing? “Oh, man, it’s not about being good at it,” he replied. “Branford (Marsalis) and I were talking not long ago, and he was teasing me, saying ‘Man, you have to practice what you’re not good at.’ Because we’d done a record (2005’s ‘Harry and Branford’). And when you play with somebody in that (duo) format — and the other person is Branford — you have to bring your ‘A’ game, because there’s nowhere to hide.” Connick laughed. “What was the question again?” he asked. “If you think it’s Freudian that, of everything you’ve asked me so far, I forgot that question, well, I have so many things to learn. And people who are not serious about art don’t understand that. They say: ‘Oh, come on, you’re great.’ Ask any artist or journalist who really knows about the creative process, and they all say the same thing: ‘It’s a journey.’ Philosophies and approaches are changing all the time. That’s what exciting to me.” Including, for the record, Connick’s own approach to making an album. Earlier this month, he began a tour to promote his 25th and latest release, “Your Songs,” not with a big band or an orchestra but with a smaller, pared-down group. It’s his first album to be produced by Clive Davis, the legendary record industry mogul who has worked closely with Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston, Santana and many more, dating back to Janis Joplin in the 1960s. Connick, who usually oversees every facet of his albums, was approached by Davis. He proposed Connick do an album of classic hit songs popularized by such icons as Nat “King” Cole, Elvis Presley, Billy Joel, Elton John and The Beatles, whose ballad “And I Love Her” features a vocal duet with Carla Bruni Sarkosy (the first lady of France and a former model pal of Connick’s wife, Jill Goodacre). Davis had very specific concepts regarding the songs, tempos, instrumentation and arrangements. He was also adamant that “Your Songs” generally steer clear of jazz, although Connick was still able to include brief solos by Marsalis and his trumpet-playing brother Wynton (whose father, New Orleans jazz patriarch Ellis Marsalis, was one of Connick’s first piano teachers). Davis and Connick have since become “dear friends.” But the process of working together was a challenge for both of them. “It went against everything I thought creatively, but I did it because it was an exercise,” said Connick, a gifted singer who is well aware that some reviews have dismissed “Your Songs” for veering perilously close to easy-listening music. “Somebody read me an article that said this album is beneath me and my talent level. I laughed and said: ‘They don’t know what it takes to be in a (recording) studio. ...’ Clive and I were cool. He said things I didn’t agree with, and I said things he didn’t agree with. But collaborations rarely happen without any argument.” As for performing all of the songs from his new album live, Connick isn’t sure yet. “I’ve got to be honest with you,” he said. “I don’t know if I can sing (The Carpenters’) ‘Close to You’ six times a week. I could sing (the Nat ‘King’ Cole) ‘Mona Lisa’ six times a week, because that’s a much more complex song. ... My manager tells me all the time to keep working on my body of work and stay true to what I think, and that’s what I do.” George Varga: (619) 293-2253; george.varga@uniontrib.com A CAUSE NEAR AND DEAR TO HIS HEART: NEW ORLEANS Harry Connick, Jr., finds life pretty entertaining: “Philosophies and approaches are changing all the time. That’s what is exciting to me.” - Bill Haber / Associated Press Harry Connick, Jr., pitched in to help build Musicians’ Village in the city’s Ninth Ward as well as raised funds for the rebuilding effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans has few more avid champions than Harry Connick, Jr., a Big Easy native whose love for his hometown is visible in his actions, not just his words. His passion for the city stems not only from having grown up there, but from the sense of civic pride instilled in him by his father, Harry Connick, Sr. (who recently retired as district attorney of New Orleans after serving in office for three decades), and his mother, a judge (who died when Connick was 13). Together with jazz sax great Branford Marsalis, whose father Ellis was one of Connick’s first piano teachers, the younger Connick spearheaded New Orleans Musicians’ Village, which was built by Habitat for Humanity to provide new homes for displaced area musicians and their families, and to help sustain the city’s remarkably rich cultural heritage. Location: New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by Katrina, and an area that was home to multiple generations of some of the city’s most notable musical families. Groundbreaking ceremony: Took place on Sept. 13, 2007, and featured a performance by Ellis and Branford Marsalis, Connick and some of the musicians who now live in the village. Size: Approximately 8.1 acres Number of residences: As of last September, all 72 planned homes in the village had been completed and 80 percent of them are occupied by musicians and their families, according to Connick. Five of the homes are “elder-friendly doubles.” The village also has a “toddler-friendly pocket park.” Cost: $85,000 per house. Financing: “Partner families” at the village pay a zero-interest mortgage. Instead of a down payment, they contribute 350 hours of “sweat equity” to help construct Habitat houses. No profit is ever made from the sale of any Habitat house. Musicians Village slogan: “America is better than this — music redeems.” Next Big Thing: Construction recently began on the adjacent Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a $10 million project that will include educational facilities and a concert auditorium. To donate: Send checks to New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village, 323 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139 Summing it up: “We’re blessed that it was successful,” said Connick, whose 2007 album, “Oh, My NOLA,” included the song “All These People,” which vividly chronicled what happened to some of the displaced victims of Katrina. “New Orleans is on the comeback trail and I think it will only get better in the years ahead.”