Peter Cincotti: veteran cabaret star at 19

NEW YORK, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Peter Cincotti was only 18 when he made his New York cabaret debut as a headliner last year at the Algonquin Hotel's legendary Oak Room, and he is back again at 19 as a veteran cabaret star who is rapidly maturing as an eminently polished singer and composer.

What a difference a year has made in this Park Avenue kid who rocked the popular music world when he made his Oak Room debut while a freshman at Columbia University! He was the youngest performer engaged for the room in its 100-year history, booked there after only a few appearances at lesser clubs and a role in the Off-Broadway hit, "Our Sinatra."

Since then he has made his first CD, "Peter Cincotti," a pop/jazz recording to be released March 11 by Concord, and his live performances have taken him as far away as Tokyo. He is a sought-after guest on top TV talk shows and the subject of upcoming articles in Vanity Fair, Teen Vogue, and Elle. He has managed all this while pursuing sophomore studies at Columbia.

Although Sinatra is his idol, Concotti's intent singing performance and his glowing, saturated keyboard style is more reminiscent of Erroll Garner. And he couldn't have better backup than he has from bassist David Finck, tenor saxophonist Scott Kreitzer, and drummer Kenny Washington, all first-rate musicians.

Cincotti says that music is so dominant in his life that when he sits down to write a term paper it often comes out as a jazz composition. If the composition is anything like the three numbers of his own he includes in the show - "I Changed the Rules," a holdover from last year, and two new works, "The Girl I Knew," and "Are You the One" - it deserves an A+ for accomplishment.

These songs have an undercurrent of cynicism about love that is rare in a talent of Cincotti's age, and they are as arresting in their lyrics (written with an assist from his mother and sister) as they are in musicality. They reflect a more fully realized style that matches a new maturity in Cincotti's appearance, that of a young man-about-town with errant hair falling from a center part to frame his handsome face in the manner of Hugh Grant.

Seeing him also brings Harry Connick Jr., who has been Cincotti's mentor, to mind. But Connick was 20 -- two years older than Cincotti - when made his Oak Room debut and more of a showman and stand-up comic with a flare for mimicry. Cincotti stays glued to the piano, making eye contact with his audience only across the music rack, and he keeps between-numbers patter to a minimum.

He focuses on smooth singing in a voice of considerable color, giving precise enunciation and heartfelt interpretation to every song he sings. Humor occasionally flickers across his face, but he is essentially a sober, somewhat introspective artist with no ruffles or flourishes. If you want an enchanted evening with a performer who has been described as "the freshest old soul to come along in ages," then catch up with Cincotti during his month-long Oak Room engagement ending March 8.

Nattily dressed but not in black tie, he opens his show with Andrew Lippa's "Raise the Roof," an off-beat anthem for self-indulgent youth from last season's Broadway musical, "The Wild Party," Then moves on to an oddball Leo Robin-Richard Whiting song, "Miss Brown To You," a funny number that deserves the dusting off he gives it.

Other selection include the Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin ballad, "This Is New" from "Lady in the Dark," Frank Loesser's "I've Never Been in Love Before" from "Guys and Dolls," and a tribute to Garner in the form of David Clayton Thomas' "Spinning Wheel," a number with a perpetual motion melody. As a contrast, Cincotti offers "Sway," a Pablo Ruiz riff with a Latin beat that summons up memories of tropic nights.

For "Falling in Love Again," which Marlene Dietrich made a classic, Cincotti gets great saxophone accompaniment from Kreitzer," and he provides his own bouncy virtuoso piano accompaniment for the Fats Waller number, "Ain't Misbehavin'." The most haunting number on the program is "Come Live Your Life With Me," also known as "The Godfather Waltz" from the film, "The Godfather."

For his encore and farewell number, Cincotti uses a Peggy Lee song, "I Love Being Here With You," a gracious gesture warmly appreciated by his audience judging by the enthusiastic applause it gets.

The entertainer, who yo-yo's between his mother's Park Avenue apartment and a Columbia University dormitory, began studying the piano when he was four after showing aptitude on a 12-key toy given him by a grandmother. He was singing for audiences three years later. He has been trained in jazz interpretation by the great Ellis Marsalis and also has studied at the Manhattan School of Music.

Cincotti's original composition, "Big Bad Daddy" received an award in the 1999 John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and in 2000 he was one of eight pianists chosen to compete in the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, winning another award. He spends a lot of time on his own big band arrangements, although he hasn't a band of his own yet, just a Columbia University jazz group for which he is pianist.