Peter Cincotti is a few short steps from entering a career similar to artists like young pop-opera singer Josh Groban and his female counterpart, 17-year-old Charlotte Church. They have both appeared on the Public Broadcast Station so much, they ought to form their own club.
Cincotti doesn't sing or play opera music, and he's still a newcomer to his preferred genre of music, piano jazz. But he's got all the right ingredients to make a career out of sell-out shows, platinum-selling CDs and countless PBS concert specials.
Nineteen years old and a sophomore at Columbia University, Cincotti played to an older audience at the Center for the Arts Mainstage Theatre Friday night. It was an audience of baby boomers who watch such PBS specials where young, talented adults - about the same age as their sons or daughters - show off their young, talented and promising careers.
Although the turnout was low, considering the Mainstage Theatre can hold 1,744 people, Cincotti was lucky. This was an audience that will probably remember him in three years when he hits it big. It's quality, not quantity, which counts.
Promoting his debut, self-titled, album, which was released on Concord Jazz Records on March 11, Cincotti crept onstage with little fanfare and dim lighting and crawled into a set of moody jazz standards. He also threw in a few original pieces, creating an eclectic range of styles as well as a smooth and well-balanced mixture. It could be savored like a good glass of red wine - robust and subtle.
He opened with a surprising but appropriate new twist on a song UB students should remember from last semester's musical production, "The Wild Party." Composed by Andrew Lippa, who, much like Cincotti, is young and new to the scene, "Raise The Roof" is soft and tranquil in the hands of the pianist's gentle interpretation, while it was presented in the musical as boisterous, loud, and rapturous.
Another notable performance, "The Girl I Knew," was a mellow and thought- provoking original piece, revealing that Cincotti's musical talent was beyond his years.
While his songwriting should be commended, lyrical content about the trials of unrequited love and scorned hearts sound almost silly from a young man who hasn't gone past his second decade of existence.
This doesn't mean he can't - or didn't - feel the things he eloquently divulged, but his target audience might not appreciate the authenticity in a lyric like, "I guess you live and learn."
Nevertheless, "The Girl I Knew" and "Are You The One," another original tune, are bleak in overall composure but rich in tone. Cincotti rarely ran his fingers rampant on the piano, but even his improvised riffs were well chosen and nicely executed. But there's room for his hands to relax on the keyboard. He could use a little loosening up - this is jazz after all.
He paused between every few songs to welcome the audience and share a bit about his life. Cincotti was comfortable saying how old - or young - he is, and that he was born and raised in New York City, not that his debonair, Park Avenue-like appearance and Upper-East-Side voice didn't already reveal that. Beyond the normal small talk, he kept it quiet and close to what he knows best - the jazz standard.
By far the best performance of the evening was a moving rendition of Frank Sinatra's "Nature Boy." Mysterious and dry in tone, this is one of jazz's most popular covers, such David Bowie's on the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack.
A slow-moving introduction was modest in pronouncing the song's signature opening line, "There was a boy." It seemed as if Cincotti was allowing the audience to eavesdrop on his deep, sorrowful lament.
Bassist David Finck, drummer Kenny Washington, and Scott Kreitzer on tenor sax were fine accompaniments to Cincotti's handling of complex rhythms. You could tell they wanted to play out more, but it simply wasn't their job at this show.
Credit is due to Cincotti and his charming style of classic jazz and standards, mixed with his young and fresh face. Comparisons to Harry Connick, Jr. are warranted, but if Groban and Church ever go out on tour together, Cincotti's likely counterpart would be jazz vocalist Diana Krall. It's a sweet prospect - Groban and Church, and Cincotti and Krall could become the new Timberlake and Aguilera, except the former matches would be made in music heaven.
And they say public television is boring.
