When Harry Meets Broadway : Music: Jazz pianist-singer Harry Connick Jr., all of 23 now, has taken New York by storm with his 16-piece band and a 22-piece orchestra.

Harry Connick Jr., the jazz pianist-singer who has been spinning through show business like a comet, now has landed here for two weeks, conquering Broadway.

Connick, who is 23, opened “An Evening with Harry Connick Jr. and his Orchestra” at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater on Friday night, the same night “Swinging Out with Harry,” a Dallas show on the tour Connick started in April, was on PBS. He’s also known for putting together the “When Harry Met Sally . . . “ soundtrack and he’s currently making his movie acting debut in “Memphis Belle,” as a tail gunner who sings.

The exuberant show should gladden the hearts of jazz fans. As a singer, Connick is the Mel Torme of his generation. He can croon but he isn’t a pop singer, he’s a jazz singer. In one segment, he sings scat. As a pianist, he has a heavy, percussive attack. He plays in a lot of styles--even stride and boogie-woogie--but he doesn’t touch jazz-rock.

The 16-piece band he carries with him has a solid big-band sound. It isn’t as hard-charging as Woody Herman’s--on purpose, because its leader sings a lot and wants to be heard. But it swings and it has some classy, exciting soloists. Connick always announces them, in the best tradition.

The amazing thing is that Connick gets the big-band feeling and music so right and makes it sound so contemporary, not just a careful reconstruction. For a New Orleans traditional number he has musicians playing banjo and sousaphone, does some lusty “second line” dancing--like the people right behind the band in parades--and takes over the drums so drummer Shannon Powell can dance.

After intermission, a 22-piece orchestra, mainly strings, is atop the steps where the band had been. After a couple of numbers, the band appears, in one long line, in the orchestra pit.

His manner is engaging, bordering on the corny sometimes, but not quite getting there. The audience sees through the “ah shucks” to the self-assurance and stays in the palm of his hand.