GOING TRADITIONAL : Cole and Connick aside, Tom Scott says he’s not following a trend

The photo on the cover of Tom Scott’s latest album, “Born Again,” is a portrait of the saxophonist as a young man, a smiling teen-ager with a mouthful of braces, cradling his horn.

It’s a fitting image for the music inside: The 44-year-old composer, arranger and fusion trendsetter has returned to his roots, looking to the same straight-ahead direction that characterized his years as a young prodigy when he played with such mainstreamers as Oliver Nelson, Roger Kellaway and Don Ellis.

In a time when musicians from Wynton Marsalis to Harry Connick Jr. and Natalie Cole are enjoying tremendous success by looking back to tradition, it might seem that Scott--who plays Friday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center--is following their lead. Not so, he says.

“I’ve never worked from any grand strategy,” he maintained during a phone call from his studio in Los Angeles last week. “If any pattern to what I’m doing emerges, it’s really just coincidence.”

He said the idea for “Born Again”--which includes Wayne Shorter’s “Children of the Night,” a favorite of his as a teen-ager, along with seven originals--occurred while he was recording the recent “GRP Big Band Album.”

“I’ve always though of myself as a guy who couldn’t decide which musical direction he was going to take,” continued Scott, whose previous album had been an electric, vocal-heavy outing with singers Brenda Russell, Dianne Schuur and Bill Champlin. “I like to mix things up and keep it interesting.”

After cutting his teeth with those aforementioned main-streamers, Scott went on to record a pair of forward-looking discs for the Impulse! label in the mid-’60s, then took a turn to jazz-rock with L.A. Express in the ‘70s.

The Express backed Joni Mitchell during her “Court and Spark” days; Scott also was heard on such well-known albums as Carole King’s “Jazzman,” Steeley Dan’s “Aja” and Blondie’s “Rapture.” He toured with ex-Beatle George Harrison and sitarist Ravi Shankar in 1975.

More recently, he has contributed to a host of television and movie soundtracks: He was the musical director of “The Carol Burnett Show” and wrote the score for Bobcat Goldthwait’s film, “Shakes the Clown.” The most visible of these roles was as music director of the short-lived “Pat Sajak Show.”

Scott says his next album will take yet another turn. “Of some 20 albums, I’ve never done one with Latin percussion as the unifying element. So that’s what I’m doing.” He promises selections Friday night from the full spectrum of his career.

Who: Tom Scott and his band (keyboardist Tom McMorrin, guitarist Jerry Lopez, bassist Jimmy Earl and drummer Johnny Friday).

When: Friday, Oct. 16, with David Benoit and Tuck & Patti. Show time: 8 p.m.

Where: The Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Bristol Street exit. North to Town Center Drive. (Center is one block east of South Coast Plaza.)

Wherewithal: $16 to $34.

Where to call: (714) 556-2787.