Music and memories go hand in hand, like love and kisses.

Anyone who remembers the banner year 1967 or the James Bond flick Casino Royale is unlikely to forget The Look of Love.

In recent years Diana Krall has breathed fresh life into this Burt Bacharach hit originally sung by Dusty Springfield in what became known as the summer of love.

Forty-three years later Kamloops Symphony presents Denzal Sinclaire, one of Canada’s most popular jazz vocalists, in a concert next weekend called Look of Love.

“These things happen in cycles,” Sinclaire said when The Daily News reached him in Toronto. He first apologized. He’d been Skyping, which blocked the call.

Sinclaire was Densil Pinnock, a kid growing up in Toronto when he fell in love with the music he’ll be singing next weekend. That it was the music of his parents mattered not.

“I found myself listening a lot to their record collection in the basement — Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mathis. I found I was really enjoying that kind of music very much.”

He started piano lessons at a young age before receiving a surprise gift from his parents.

“I thought it was a maybe a car ride but we came home with the ultimate keyboard.

“And I just liked it. The first song I publicly performed kind of cracked a shell was Misty (Mathis’s signature song), two verses.”

After steady involvement in high school music events, he studied jazz performance and piano at McGill University. That’s where he met jazz guitarist Bill Coon, who played with Oliver Gannon last spring at St. Andrew’s on the Square.

Their friendship led to a steady collaboration over the next decade, including a series of string orchestra concerts recorded by CBC and the critically acclaimed stage musical Unforgettable, based on the life and music of Nat King Cole.

“I was getting comparisons to Nat King Cole frequently,” he said. “Really it was the style of singing people will lean to. If you want to put a name on it, it’s basically a crooning style, the timbre of the voice and piano.”

Sinclaire had progressed through the jazz legend’s influence as he developed his own distinct style.

“It was a big challenge for me. It was something I never thought I’d do because of the risk of being pigeon-holed as such.”

His performance as Cole broadened his jazz horizons and led to a tribute CD. After appearing at the Vancouver Jazz Festival in the mid-‘90 moved to the West Coast for a few years. There he was part of the B3 Kings, singing and drumming alongside Coon, saxman Cory Weeds and Hammond B3 player Chris Gestrin.

“A performer who possesses that rare ability to achieve, from the moment he steps on stage, a profound emotional interaction with his audience," was one critic’s description of Sinclaire’s own style.

Look of Love — with a program made to order for Valentine’s — is also made to order for Sinclaire: Oh So Nice (George Gershwin), Night and Day (Cole Porter) and Love is Here to Stay (brothers Gershwin).

No wonder this music resonates across the generations, Sinclaire noted.

“It’s dealing with relationships, the deep despair of relationships and the challenges of relationships. It’s that whole issue around relationships because we are social beings. We do enjoy sharing emotions or feelings. The most intimate of that tends to be love on various levels, I suppose. You can always have a loving relationship without being physical. It’s all you need.”

Sinclaire is also an actor. He took acting lessons in Vancouver, played himself in the 2004 film Being Julia and was involved in the revamping of TV’s Battlestar Gallactica. He had his own TV special on Bravo!, was nominated for multiple Juno Awards while recording three solo albums and won a 2004 National Jazz Award. In 2005 he was inducted in the B.C.’s Entertainment Hall of Fame.

More recently Sinclaire took part in a Motown tribute in November.

“That was a fun challenge. It was nice to do something different. It was kind cool to be influenced by music that was out of (Detroit) and to think it was so close to Toronto.”

Has been playing as a side artist to James Lidell, and has made guest appearances on late shows hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and Craig Ferguson. He also croons on Sing Me A Love song, a newly released CD with Freda Payne and the acclaimed David Berger Orchestra.

“There is more to life than live performance. I definitely do have some ideas to realize in terms of recording projects. The next one will have a love theme, I’m sure.”

Now there’s a safe bet.

“It’s a time of recalibrating,” he added.

INCONCERT

WHAT: KSO presents Look of Love with guest Denzal Sinclaire

WHEN: Feb. 12 and 13, 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Sagebrush Theatre

TICKETS: Kamloops Live! Box Office, 374-LIVE or www.kamloopslive.com