Peter Cincotti
Café Carlyle, NYC, September 20, 2022
Reviewed by Ron Forman
When I was seated literally back-to-back with Peter Cincotti
at the Café Carlyle, at first I was a bit disappointed with where I was placed.
I turned my chair slightly so that I could see Cincotti’s back but more
importantly, so that I could see his fingers fly across and bounce on the piano
keys. I realized that I had the best seat in the house.
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Cincotti’s work on piano is truly dazzling. His kinetic style often had the piano bench bouncing. It was a joy to watch whether he was playing pop, rock, jazz, or blues. He can sing, in a very powerful voice, songs from all of the genres mentioned above. In this show he paid tribute to the great singer/ pianists of all time including Bobby Short, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Billy Joel. He was backed by a trio that really rocks and Cincotti gave each member an opportunity to do solos.
Cincotti opened the show with a really rocking “Raise the
Roof” followed by a dynamically performed “Sweet Lorraine.” He spoke about
first coming to the Café Carlyle at age eight or nine to see Bobby Short. The
precocious youngster asked Short if he could play the piano; Short turned him down.
He then paid tribute to Short by with “How High the Moon,” which he started soft
and slow and then proceeded to do a nice vocal, ending the song at super speed.
He stood up for the vocal on “I Love Paris,” in his tribute to Cole Porter.
He recalled his first recording session, when he was still a student at Columbia, with the legendary Phil Ramone. He reprised the first song he recorded— “Sway”—performing it in his unique jazz-inflected singing style. He has recently recorded a new CD, Killer on the Keys,and he performed the title song à la Jerry Lee Lewis, has he pounded on the keys and bounced up and down on the piano bench. Early in his career, Cincotti opened for Ray Charles, and he spoke briefly about working with “The Genius,” before performing “You Don’t Know Me,” in the Ray Charles style.
Cincotti welcomed vocalist Jessica Vosk (who was sitting in the audience) to join him on stage for a lively duet on “Nowadays.
” His next-to-closing number was a very jazzy and bluesy “St. Louis Blues.” He closed by paying tribute to Billy Joel with a very fast-paced “New York State of Mind,” which made me think of Cincotti as a force of nature.
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His encore was an apparently very appropriate “I Love Being Here with You.”
