"What are you saying, I'm like Martini and Rossi?" Harry Connick Jr. laughs when asked about his ability to draw non-traditional fans to his music. "I'm a Chateau Margeaux from 1982," he proclaims in a haughty British accent. "Or even better, I'm a 1945 Lafite Rothschild in a magnum! Is there anything finer?" Connick is being facetious, of course, but it would be difficult to come up with a finer wine to describe Connick's achievements.

Born in New Orleans, vintage 1967, Connick's career includes four multi-platinum and three platinum albums, three gold albums, two Grammy awards, an Emmy, Cable Ace, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. And to top off these musical and dramatic accomplishments, this fall Connick made his debut as a Broadway composer, lyricist, and arranger with his work on Thou Shalt Not, an adaptation of Emile Zola's dark novel Therese Raquin. Not bad for someone who just turned 34.

Sitting back on the sofa, the smartly dressed black-clad singer settles in on the third floor of Toronto's venerable jazz house, Top of the Senator, and continues his banter. Immediately, you get the feeling he's on. Having just performed a show in Syracuse the night before, which kicked off his North American tour in support of two recently released albums, Songs I Heard and 30, Connick was still hopping. "Yeah, it's good to be back on the road," he says in his New Orleans drawl. "I just love performing and getting into the groove."

Performing is nothing new to Connick. A musician by vocation, he's been playing in public since he was 10. He began playing the keyboards at the age of three and by the time he was hitting double digits he was recording with a local jazz band. A product of the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, he was taught by jazz legends Ellis Marsalis and James Booker.

After moving to New York to study at Hunter College and the Manhattan School of Music, Connick managed to get his debut self-titled album pressed by his 20th birthday. A year later he released his second album, 20, the first to feature him on vocals which launched a concept of capturing snapshots of his development as a musician at certain ages. Although he started the concept with 11, which was recorded in 1978 but not released until after 20, it was 20 that caught the attention of jazz critics and fans alike. His work on the soundtrack for When Harry Met Sally made him a household name. Since 20, Connick has recorded albums to usher in his 25th and 30th birth years.

Of his two new CDs, 30 represents a milestone of sorts for Connick. Like most people, he viewed entering his third decade as a big deal. Yet, for someone who has been nominated for an Oscar, won a couple of Grammys and has sold millions of records worldwide during his 20s, it leaves one wondering what's in store for his future.

"I don't technically believe the new decade starts until 31," says the singer whose birthday is Sept. 11. "Thirty-one was actually a bigger deal for me. But I think it's the three in the number that's a little like, wow, I'm 30 now." He pauses before asking, "How old are you?"

On the brink of hitting the big 3-0, I tell him.

"You're almost an old man," he laughs. "Really, though, it's not bad turning 30. I'll probably be saying that when I'm 60."

Although 30 was recorded only four years ago, Connick already looks back and sees it as a place he was once inhabited. He's moved on since then, he declares. "The way I played and sang on the album was me at a certain point in my career. It's like hairstyles or tastes in clothes, you change your style over time and it's the same with music. I am a different player now than back then. I know my voice sounds a little bit different because I'm four years older now."

Listening to 30, the melodies are the first thing to strike home. The songs Connick selected to perform all featured layered melodies that could be reinterpreted without hindering the sonic foundation of each song. With songs like "I'm Walkin," or "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans," Connick keeps the core of the tune, but stretches the music beyond its previous boundaries and adds his own personal touch.

"It's melody first, then the lryics. If I don't like the melody, I won't do the song," he explains. "Some of the songs were just floating around in my head (on 30) like "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Oak Tree," that's just a song I dug. And with others I'd just kinda be in there with my buddy Tracey Freeman, who produced it and it was like 'What song should I play now?'

"On 30 I did songs that appealed to me at the moment. On Songs I Heard, it was more formal because the songs had to be arranged and orchestrated and it was a bit more of a production to go into the studio and do that record."

Listening to Songs I Heard takes you back -- at least for those over 30 it will. With songs like The Wizard of Oz standards "Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead," and "Over the Rainbow," and other childhood favourites, Connick adds his own personal stamp. He plays them like he thinks they should be played. He doesn't think about other people's reaction to his interpretation of the songs.

"Rewriting the classics gives me a break from my own writing and refreshes me in a way. Sort of like going back to a great teacher and learning something new. When I approach a classis, I try to give my own personal signature... it also allows me to focus just on the music. It's a break of sorts from my own song writing.

"I do the things that I think are interesting and it's the same thing as picking songs. You pick the ones you can sink your teeth into. Like 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.' I mean these are mind benders," he says, halting his train of thought in mid-sentence.

"Have you happened to notice the mural on the wall behind you?" he blurts out, referring to a painting, which takes up an entire wall in the third floor lounge where we are talking. "I'm sorry, it's just very distracting. It's a rather large reclining nude woman. I'm thinking about what you're asking me and in the corner of my eye, there she is laying back and kinda just hanging out naked."

"Here's a funny wine story," he continues after clearing his mind of the voluptuous nude. "I played at Prince Rainier III (of Monaco)'s birthday party in Monte Carlo. It was a small, intimate gathering. The host of the party gave me three bottles of wine, which were very, very expensive. I was joking with my wife saying, 'Can we take these back and cash them in and get something that we could use?'" he laughs. "Chances are my wife's not going to drink the wine. They're just too expensive to open, so they'll probably just sit in our cellar."

In the Connick home, it's Jill Connick (nee Goodacre) who looks after the wine cellars. The former Victoria's Secret model met Connick when he was scoring When Harry Met Sally. The couple married in 1994. According to Connick, when it comes to wine his wife knows what she wants and keeps their wine cellar stocked with fine wines.

"My wife doesn't really go for older vintage wines, like a 1982 Lafite-Rothschild or something, she tends to go for the more recent, New World-style wines. When I spend $350 on a bottle of wine, she doesn't seem to like it as much as some of the more youthful wines. Hey, it's great because, I don't have to spend that kind of money any more," he says with a laugh.

"She tends to like Ripple, Thunderbird, Mad Dog, fine American booze. She likes the wines that can be disguised by a brown paper bag and are drinkin' beautifully now with a bouquet of vomit and urine with a hearty cement finish," he says reverting back to his haughty British accent. "What the hell do you guys write about with wine. It's wine! Come on!"

He leans over to check out a bottle of Icewine brought especially for the interview. It's the first time he's heard of Icewine. "It's like Sauternes?" he asks, as he turns the bottle he starts to read the back label. "'The result of which is a luscious, full bouquet of pear, apricot and honey with a long, lingering finish...' See what I'm saying, don't try to get to the people with this crap. Say it's good and let the people try it for themselves," he exclaims, before ineffectually adding, "I'm just teasing."

Point taken. As the singer who brought back the big band sound just as Nirvana and Grunge was changing the face of music, Connick knows what it means to stay true to his own vision and to champion quality for quality's sake. Living the good life has more to do with inner confidence than marketing or hype.

An adherent of fine dining, Connick has a penchant for ordering the most expensive wine on the wine list. "I love fine food and I love ordering the most expensive wine on the menu to a point. I mean some of the wines are really, really expensive, like $10,000 for some crazy bottle of wine. I won't buy those ones, but I will buy some pricey wines for my wife."

And, who says romance is dead.