By Scott D. Pierce February, 24 2011 The Salt Lake Tribune Pasadena, Calif. • Harry Connick Jr. was just 22 the first time he headlined PBS’ “Great Performances,” and — two decades later — he’s not sure he appreciated the experience at the time. “You want all this great stuff to happen,” he said, recalling himself half a lifetime ago. “And when it happens, not that you’re ungrateful, but there’s a lot of momentum when you’re a new artist.” In 1990, Connick was coming off his first big success, the soundtrack for “When Harry Met Sally.” And he admits he was a little more, well, full of himself back then. “I just grew up, man. I appreciate all that goes into this stuff,” he said. “It takes a lot of money and a lot of time and a lot of support, and it’s an honor. I take that stuff very seriously. I think you start to appreciate things a little bit as you grow a little older and you realize, man, this is not an effort by myself. I mean, I’m so thankful to have people in my corner.” “Harry Connick Jr. in Concert on Broadway” was taped this past July in Broadway’s Neil Simon Theater. He’s backed by his big band and a 12-piece string section, and Connick sings and plays the piano. It’s not quite the same as hearing him perform live, but it’s the next best thing. And Connick is an amazing performer whose talent continues to amaze. The special carries viewers through 16 numbers , including “We Are in Love,”“The Way You Look Tonight,” “Bésame Mucho,” “Nowhere in Love,” “Come By Me,” “My Time of Day/I’ve Never Been in Love Before,” “Light the Way,” “Bourbon Street Parade” and “Mardi Gras in New Orleans.” And his charm shines through as he banters with the audience. Connick is both supremely confident in his abilities as an entertainer and humble, even self-deprecating. “I don’t know why people continue to come to my shows, to be honest with you,” he said, quickly adding that he wasn’t fishing for compliments. “Some people think of me as a guy who sings. Like, one of my daughter’s friends said that I sing vintage pop,” Connick said, rolling his eyes. “And then some people think of me as a jazz musician and they want to ignore the singing part of it. Some people kind of don’t care about the singing at all and acknowledge the orchestrations and things like that, which is as much a part of what I do as the singing. “Really, I’m a piano player and a singer. That’s kind of what I came to the dance with.” And his performance in “Great Performances” got a rave review from the one person who matters — himself. “It’s always 100 percent effort on our parts, but sometimes we just miss,” Connick said. “But when we hit it, it can be good. And this happened to be a good night for me. I’m rarely coming off the stage saying, ‘Man, that was awesome.’ I’m usually, like, ‘Ah, man, I could have done this, I could have done that.’ But this particular night, I was like, ‘Man, that was a good show.’ “I really had I got some things accomplished musically, lyrically, all that stuff. And it happened to be documented, so I’m excited about that. I’m proud of it.”