ACTOR, MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, INVENTOR?

Byline: Robert Lowman Entertainment Editor

When you talk to Harry Connick Jr., it is quickly apparent he knows how to improvise. We're not referring to the composer/actor's piano playing, but to the fact that balancing a career that moves among Hollywood, Broadway, concert halls and the patent office requires you to be loose.

``It's fun,'' the 34-year-old says. ``You never know when the phone rings what it's going to be.''

Connick, who plays with his big band at the Kodak Theatre tonight, just finished filming ``Basic'' with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, but wouldn't say much about the John McTiernan-directed ``thriller,'' other than that he plays a pharmacist. ``Something I've always wanted to do,'' jokes the man who stole Sandra Bullock's heart in ``Hope Floats'' and is married to former model Jill Goodacre.

Connick's current tour is to help promote the two albums he released late last year - ``30'' and ``Songs I Heard,'' for which he won a Grammy - his third - in February. ``Songs I Heard'' is a collection of tunes he heard growing up, from shows and movies like ``Mary Poppins,'' ``Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'' and ``Annie.''

``Some of them, like 'A Spoonful of Sugar,' sound like they've been written to be in a jazz tune,'' says Connick. ``I just wanted kids to hear then in a jazz context.''

As for ``30,'' it follows Connick's other five-year barometers of his interests, ``20'' and ``25.'' ``There not a whole lot of forethought to it,'' he says. ``I play mostly solo piano standards.''

One of the songs, ``Tie a Yellow Ribbon,'' he chose while flipping around the radio dials. ``I heard it and thought, 'That is a hell of a melody. It was done originally in a kind of a novel way, but it's still a great piece of music.''

Another of the songs - ``I'll Only Miss Her (When I Think of Her)'' - was suggested by his producer. ``So I called up Wynton and he came over, and we were both reading it off the sheet music.''

That's Wynton as in Connick's childhood friend - and jazz and classical music great - Wynton Marsalis, who added a subtle trumpet track to the song.

The two grew up together in New Orleans. Like Marsalis, Connick burst on the scene at an early age, honing his piano skills under the tutelage of piano legends Ellis Marsalis (Wynton's dad) and James Booker. He moved to New York City - where he still lives - at 18, and within a year he had recorded his self-titled debut album. In 1989, director Rob Reiner asked him to sing a number of songs on the soundtrack of ``When Harry Met Sally.'' The film's success helped put Connick in the national spotlight, and, in 1990, he made his film debut in ``Memphis Belle.''

Since then Connick has been juggling a film and musical career, lately adding a few more resume entries: Broadway composer and inventor.

He recently received a patent for a system of reading sheet music where you don't use sheet music. ``It's computerized,'' he says. The band that will be performing with him tonight will have a ``beta version'' of the system that links together a series of computers displaying the music on the screen and eliminating having to turn pages or worry about paper blowing away outdoors.

And last fall, Connick's ``Thou Shalt Not,'' an adaptation of Emile Zola's novel ``Therese Raquin,'' opened for a limited run on Broadway. Coming on the heels of Sept. 11, the timing for a new musical was poor. ``I wouldn't want to go out, either,'' Connick notes. And though most critics weren't kind and the project was ``an overwhelming amount of work,'' the composer says he is ready to tackle another musical.

You know he'll find the time; he'll just improvise.

``The way I see it is that every day is a new day and worth investigating artistically; so it's not like I have to wait around to be inspired.''

HARRY CONNICK JR.

Where: Kodak Theatre, Hollywood; Terrace Theater, Long Beach.

When: Kodak Theatre: 8 tonight; Terrace Theater: 8 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets: For the Kodak, $29.50 to $75; call [phone]. For the Terrace, $29.50 to $65; call [phone].

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no caption (Harry Connick Jr.)