Peter Cincotti

The youngest artist ever to appear at New York's famed cabaret room, the Algonquin, and the winner of the Piano Competition at the legendary Montreux Jazz festival and vocal and jazz piano phenomenon, Peter Cinotti is here! AT only 19 years-old, this charismatic performer has already distilled an amalgam of jazz and traditional pop influces like Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra into his own youthful-eyt-sophisticated, swinging accessible music style.

Inevitably, on his debut album, Peter Cincotti is still in the phenomenon stage of his career. The wonder is that a 19-year-old can play jazz piano and sing at such a professional level, and the issue of how distinctively he does it is one largely to be tabled for the present. Even so, the charm of his work lies in its stylistic openness, which might not be expected of a jazz performer who is older. Cincotti makes no distinction between the kind of pop songs adopted for jazz interpretation in the past and more contemporary pop songs that have not been much used for such treatment. In his liner notes, he says he's always wondered what Blood, Sweat & Tears' hit "Spinning Wheel" would sound like as an instrumental played by Erroll Garner, and so he tries to do it that way, and the answer is it doesn't sound bad at all. Mixing the Beatles' "Fool on the Hill" with Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy" may not have been his idea, but it is typical of the eclectic approach he takes to music, and it works. And then there's the closing track, "Rainbow Connection," a Muppets theme that winks good-naturedly at Cincotti's youth. His originals are not particularly impressive, and the acknowledged influence of his mentor, Harry Connick, Jr., is obvious, especially vocally, but Cincotti, supported by a good rhythm section (David Finck, bass, and Kenny Washington, drums) and the tenor saxophone of Scott Kreitzer on three tracks, is a promising pianist with a good feel for ensemble playing, and that may assure him a career even after the crowds attracted by his prodigy status and publicity machine subside. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

Performer	Peter Cincotti
Music genre	Jazz
Music subgenre	CD - JAZZ
Music release type	Release
Media format	CD
Original release date	2003
Edition	Standard
Language	English
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Series title	Peter Cincotti - Peter Cincotti [CD]
Track listing	I Changed the Rules,Comes Love,Are You the One?,Sway,Miss Brown,Lovers Secrets Lies,Fool on the Hill/Nature Boy=20,Ain't Misbehavin',Come Live Your Life with Me,Spinning Wheel,You Stepped Out of a Dream,Rainbow Connection
Record label	Concord Records
Target audience	General/trade
Music producer	Phil Ramone
Track name	I Changed the Rules, Comes Love, Are You the One?, Sway, Miss Brown, Lovers, Secrets, Lies, The Fool on the Hill/Nature Boy, Ain't Misbehavin', Come Live Your Life With Me (The Godfather Waltz), Spinning Wheel, You Stepped Out of a Dream, Rainbow Connection, Goodbye Philadelphia, Are You The One?, December Boys, Another Falling Star, St. Lewis Blues, I Love Paris, Always Watching You, Fool On The Hill / Nature Boy, Sounds of Summer, Angel Town, Lay Your Body Down (Goodbye Philadelphia), Be Careful, Cinderella Beautiful, Make It Out Alive, U B U, Broken Children, Man On a Mission, Witch's Brew, The Country Life, Love Is Gone (Bonus Track), Come Tomorrow (Bonus Track), Feed the Hunger (Bonus Track), Long Way from Home, Sexy, Made for Me, Story for Another Day, Palermo, Too Soon, Roman Skies, Half of You, What's Sara Doing?, Wanna Be, Hangover City
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N