Where do you go to interview a paragon? I chose Wollensky's Grill, a Manhattan saloon. When I got there, Kenny the waiter and Tim the barman informed me, "Oh, sure, we know Connick. He's been in here. Nice guy."

Kenny and Tim were right. That's another thing to drive you nuts about Harry: He's okay.

His latest album, Star Turtle, came out July 2. "I sing and play a whole bunch of instruments," he said. "There are five people in the band, and I play piano, bass, drums, guitar, tuba, trombone and sax." "No clarinet?" I said in mock astonishment. "Oh, sure - but not on this album," he replied. "It's the piano I enjoy most and I'm most advanced in." Oh, I forgot: He also wrote the songs.

The young man is from New Orleans, and he said this is his second "New Orleans funk album," so I asked just what that is, musically. "It's my version of New Orleans' very unique version of funk," said Harry. "Very rhythmic-oriented and bass-heavy. Very, very danceable music."

His latest movie opened July 3 - Independence Day, in which Harry plays a buddy to Will Smith, and both of them portray pilots out to save the world from, well, alien evil powers. "It's a mid-small role," Harry said, "but I grabbed it because the script was great." His next film project will be out early next year: Excess Baggage, with Alicia Silverstone and Christopher Walken. In this one, Harry plays "a sleazy car salesman," which sounds like a reach.

His first film was the World War II story of the bomber Memphis Belle, filmed entirely in England (to which he returned in 1991 for a command performance at Windsor Castle). And talk about "reaches," he played a serial killer in Copycat, terrifying Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter. In Little Man Tate, he worked with the great Jodie Foster. "What surprises me is to link up with such talented people," said Harry. "I feel very fortunate."

Harry's mother, a judge, died when he was 13, and his dad has been re-elected again and again as New Orleans' District Attorney. At 13, Harry began studying with Ellis Marsalis (the father of Wynton, Branford and the others), but on graduating from high school and after one semester at Loyola, he took off for New York. At 19, he had his first album out, a hit. He began to play the local clubs. At 20, his second album attracted the director Rob Reiner, who got him to sing a couple of classics for the soundtrack of When Harry Met Sally...

Despite the age disparity, Connick and Frank Sinatra are often linked. Does Harry know Sinatra? "When I was starting - at 21, 23 - I was very impressionable, and I turned to The Master and listened to him," said Harry. "I don't know him well. I've met him a couple of times, and I've seen him perform. Very brief meetings, but he was real nice."