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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Peter Peter Cincotti ’05 By
Dina Cheney ’99
“I wish everybody wore suits and hats like they did 50
years ago,” says Peter Cincotti ’05, speaking wistfully
from the lobby of midtown Manhattan’s Algonquin Hotel, where
he is surrounded by proud Victorian chairs and oak molding.
It’s a place steeped in tradition: The famed roundtable of
Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, Edna Ferber and
other literary luminaries convened here some 80 years ago.
Cincotti, who fits right in at this old-fashioned landmark,
practices what he preaches. During his pre-school years, Cincotti
— who favors dress pants over jeans — would voluntarily
leave his parents’ Park Avenue apartment in a suit.
Such anachronistic fashion choices would be unusual for anyone
else, but given Cincotti’s chosen vocation, they make perfect
sense. Cincotti is a pop-jazz pianist/vocalist/composer with a
penchant for standards and a longing for the jazzy Manhattan of
yesteryear. Whereas other young New Yorkers might think about
hosting a show on MTV, Cincotti dreams of performing at Radio City
Music Hall in five years. “It’s very Old New
York,” he says. “I would love to fill that
place.”
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![Steve Rivo '93](images/cincotti2.jpg)
At
18, Cincotti was the youngest headliner in the 100-year history of
the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room, where he completed a one-month run
earlier this year. PHOTO: CHRIS TAGGART |
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Suits? Standards? Clearly, these are not the typical trappings
of an 18-year-old who resides in a college dorm and needs to
complete his Italian homework. But then, Cincotti is not your
typical college first-year. He probably will fill Radio City within
five years. Already, Cincotti has been described by Stephen Holden
of The New York Times as “prodigiously talented” and a
“proud pop-jazz throwback.” Regis Philbin of Live With
Regis & Kelly called him “absolutely fantastic” and
“a name to remember.”
Cincotti was born in New York in 1983 and began playing piano on
his third birthday, after receiving a 12-key toy from his
grandfather. Immediately, the preschooler displayed musical
aptitude, picking out the notes for “Happy Birthday”
after hearing his family sing the tune. He played by ear until he
was 4, at which point his parents — Cynthia, a real-estate
broker and former Good Housekeeping art director, and Fred, an
attorney who passed away of a heart attack when Cincotti was 13
— decided that he was old enough for formal instruction and
purchased a Baldwin.
Three years later, at age 7, Cincotti got his big break. Too sick
to attend a Village Vanguard performance by his favorite
singer/pianist, Harry Connick Jr., Cincotti remained at home with
his father. According to family lore, Cincotti’s sister, Pia,
then 10 and now a senior at Fordham, visited the star backstage,
bringing him flowers and an audio recording of her brother. After
listening to the tape, Connick invited the prodigy to perform with
him that same year. Since then, Cincotti has joined his mentor on
stage at sites throughout the country, including Bally’s
Grand in Atlantic City and The Paramount at Madison Square
Garden.
Cincotti’s power-punch resume does not end there. He has
performed at various jazz venues around Manhattan, including
Feinstein’s at The Regency and Joe’s Pub. In 1996, he
was invited to the White House, where he played piano for Secret
Service personnel. He wowed the audience at the 2001 Grammy Awards,
the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and Ed
Sullivan’s Broadcast Lounge. Recently, accompanied by bassist
David Finck, saxophonist Scott Kreitzer and drummer Warren Odze,
Cincotti completed a one-month run at the Algonquin’s vaunted
Oak Room. He was the youngest headliner in the hotel’s
100-year history and was thrilled to make his appearance with two
of his regular co-performers, Finck and Kreitzer.
On a Saturday evening, the show was something to behold. By the
glow of the low-set table lamps, a mostly over-60 crowd watched as
Cincotti, in an elegant gray suit and cufflinks, walked confidently
to the gleaming black grand piano in the center of the intimate
room. The champagne-sipping audience appeared dubious, given
Cincotti’s beardless face and youthful aura. You could almost
hear the question in their minds: “How could such a young man
be serious about older music, the music of our
generation?”
Then the performance began. And if there were any reservations,
they quickly disappeared, wiped away by Cincotti’s
sophisticated rendition of “How High the Moon.”
Cincotti gave his all to other standards, including “Miss
Brown to You” and “A Night in Tunisia,” as well
as his own compositions, with lyrics by his mother. In between
songs, Cincotti amused the audience. “When I was about
16,” he began, eliciting amused chuckles. “Why is that
funny?” he asked, in mock perplexity. And later, “Some
people ask how I balance going to a school like Columbia and
finding time for my music. The answer is, I don’t go to
class. So I’m really not balancing anything at all,” he
said, laughing.
The “brightest new star on the musical stage,” as he
was described at the Algonquin, works hard to manage his
increasingly complex schedule. “If I get a call for a gig, I
need to decide whether I want to do it and also find out all the
information, such as whether band members are available, and then I
need to check on all the little things.” How does Cincotti
get his gigs? Some come through word of mouth or his agency, Ted
Kurland Associates, but increasingly, they have arrived through the
work of promoter Ron Delsener.
Cincotti is a natural performer whose delight in engaging his
audience is palpable. “I’ve always loved performing,
the idea of random people you don’t know coming into a room
to see what you’re going to do,” he says. “I used
to do magic tricks, and I would get my whole family and say,
‘At 6 o’clock, we’re going to meet in the den,
and I’m going to put on a show.’ I took it so
seriously. From age 7 on, I always loved to do that.”
Contrary to his stage patter, Cincotti does attend classes, and
completes his homework assignments like any other first-year. He is
an insatiable learner who opted to forgo attending a conservatory,
such as Juilliard, in favor of obtaining a broader education.
“Everything you learn affects music,” he explains.
“If you have more knowledge, it comes through in the playing.
A Columbia education can never go to waste.” The College was
Cincotti’s first choice and he says, “When you get in,
you’re a fool not to go.”
Cincotti’s first-year program has included Logic &
Rhetoric, Literature Humanities, Italian, Jazz Band and Music
Humanities — yes, he is taking Music Hum. Cincotti learns
from more than the classroom, though. Since 1997, he has studied
with world-renowned classical pianist Lev Natochenny and a number
of highly respected jazz pianists and arrangers, including Sy
Johnson, James Williams and LeeAnn Ledgerwood.
“As much as I can, I try to take [music] lessons from
everybody,” he says, adding that all of his instructors have
“different ways of thinking about music.” In the summer
of 1997, Cincotti visited New Orleans to study with Connick’s
former teacher, jazz titan Ellis Marsalis, father of Wynton and
Branford. He also learns by listening to the music of his idols,
including Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, Frank Sinatra and Erroll
Garner.
Cincotti might perform all over the world and may have traded in
his dorm room for an Algonquin suite during his recent show, but he
doesn’t want to be singled out when he’s at school.
“When I’m at Columbia, I am in a different mode,”
he says. He waited a month before telling his Carman roommate about
his musical career, and even then, he merely said that he
“plays piano and performs around town.”
Although he avoids mentioning his musical career to peers,
Cincotti does occasionally invite them to his performances, hoping
to involve them in his passion. “I think it’s possible
that if younger people see another young person singing this kind
of music, they might be drawn to it. My roommates, for example,
seem genuinely enthusiastic about hearing this music from someone
their age.”
Following the Algonquin show, Cincotti took off for Las Vegas,
where he performed at the Hard Rock Hotel while his classmates were
on spring break. (To balance out-of-town gigs with his schoolwork,
Cincotti often schedules shows for vacation periods.) After that,
he focused on finishing his schoolwork, with “sporadic gigs
here and there. And then in the summer, I’ll be recording the
album.”
“The album” is Cincotti’s recording debut, which
will be produced by industry heavyweight Phil Ramone. The nine-time
Grammy Award-winner, who has produced albums for Ray Charles and
Natalie Cole, among others, has high hopes for Cincotti’s
career. In a recent article in The New York Times, he
stated: “I hate putting a curse on kids and comparing them to
stars. I don’t want him compared to Sinatra or anybody. Well,
to Sinatra is OK. Too soon, but OK.”
Despite Cincotti’s lack of pretense, his dreams bear a
striking similarity to the reality of his mentor, Connick. “I
want to be a recording artist and perform all over the world and
continue writing and composing,” he says. He also wants to
act in movies.
“Everybody used to tell me growing up that I should be an
actor,” he says with a smile.
More immediately, Cincotti plans to focus on his Core Curriculum
requirements and choose his major, reminders that he is still an
underclassman. Does he have any idea what his primary area of study
is going to be? “I haven’t even thought about
it,” Cincotti admits. “I figure I have a
year.”
Dina Cheney ’99 is an editorial assistant for
authors Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, an intern for the food
department of Country Living Magazine and a student at
Manhattan’s Institute of Culinary Education.
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