Peter Cincotti Interview

PETER CINCOTTI INTERVIEW
Interview by Marshall Bowden

I recently talked to Peter Cincotti via phone about his musical background and influences and his newly-released Concord Records CD. Cincotti comes across as a sincere, friendly, and committed person, much the same qualities he brings to his performances. What follows is a transcript of our conversation.

MIB: I wanted to start with talking a little bit about what your musical background is. Did you grow up listening primarily to jazz, a combination of jazz and pop?

PC: Sure. I started playing piano when I was about three years old, and I started taking lessons at four and we got a real piano when I was about five. And the music that I loved at these very early ages, like around four or five, was boogie-woogie piano playing, and I used to love people like Jerry Lee Louis and that kind of style. People like Dr. John, and people like that. As I got a little older I got into people like Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie, people like that. Around eleven or twelve my taste started changing and I listened to a lot of Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner, and got more into the jazz instrumentalists. You know, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, they opened up a whole new world. So it was a constant evolution and my taste is constantly changing.

MIB: Probably like most of us.

PC: Sure.

MIB: So you consider yourself a pianist first?

PC: Oh definitely. I just started singing when I was fifteen, so it’s relatively new to me, compared to the piano playing.

MIB: What motivated you to start singing?

PC: I don’t know, I listened to a lot of singers growing up, and I think I always knew that I wanted to sing. It kind of started when I’d be playing jazz clubs in the city and I’d maybe just sing a tune for fun, then it became two tunes, or three, and it kind of just naturally happened. I listened to a lot of singers growing up, and it just kind of evolved.

MIB: There are some pianists, Nat King Cole, for example, came up as a pianist and then ended up doing a lot of singing. Do you worry about balancing the two, or is that not something you’re concerned about?

PC: I think it’s an art form that somebody like Nat King Cole mastered, you know. I idolize him and balance…the way he balanced his piano playing with his singing, he did it in such a way that even the lines he’d play on the piano and the way he’d accompany himself, and what he’d play around his vocal lines…he just blended that together so beautifully that they became one, in a sense. He was a master. I’ve listened to people like him and Shirley Horn, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder. A lot of my favorite singers are piano players as well.

MIB: Do you think there’s something about the piano that kind of lends itself to that…it’s a good instrument to accompany yourself on as a singer. Do you think there’s something that maybe tends to make piano players more melodically oriented?

PC: I don’t know. I don’t think so, I think there are plenty of other artists, be they horn players or guitar players who are oriented just as melodically. Everybody’s different, you know. There isn’t any real rhyme or reason for it.

MIB: You spent some time studying with Ellis Marsalis? He’s kind of renowned for being a great teacher.

PC: I only studied with him for about a week and a half. And I don’t even know if he remembers me. But it certainly was a good learning experience even though it was a short period of time. He kind of got me thinking again, as far as thinking about what you play. I remember playing certain notes and he’d stop me and say ‘Why did you play that note?’ and I would say ‘I don’t know, I guess it sounded good’ or something, and he really dissected or brought out the mental aspect of playing, which I wasn’t into too much. I studied with him over five years ago; I don’t even know if he remembers, but it was a great experience.

MIB: Was that…did you spend any time in New Orleans, other than that week and a half you were studying with him?

PC: I was there a couple times, and not too much after that. But I’d like to go back soon.

MIB: (laughs) Yeah. I think everybody feels like that who’s been there.

PC: Yeah.

MIB: What has Harry Connick Jr.’s influence been on your playing and your career?

PC: I met him when I was about seven, and he’s always been very supportive, very supportive of what I do, and he’s been very generous to me. He’s an incredible guy, you know. I don’t know what else to say about him. He’s been great. Good support.

MIB: I guess we touched on this with the piano, but who would be your biggest influences as a pianist and as a singer?

PC: You mean separately?

MIB: Well, separately or together. And maybe not even necessarily pianists.

PC: Well, I guess I gave you some of my favorite piano players and singers, but as far as just piano players…you know if you had asked me a month ago it would be different, and a month before that…it keeps changing. But some of them, right now, my favorites…well, my first favorite was Oscar Peterson, and then I got into Bill Evans. I love Keith Jarrett, I mean I have so many of his records right now, and he’s one of my favorite piano players. Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Red Garland…there’s so many, it’s overwhelming. I just try and listen to as much as I can. A lot of horn players, you know, Clifford Brown is my favorite trumpet player. Obviously John Coltrane…Sonny Rollins is also one of my favorites. There’s just a whole slew that…it’s just overwhelming.

MIB: Yeah. I guess as you said, if we asked you a month from now you’d have some different names. Some of the people you mentioned, like Jarrett and Herbie Hancock…it’s not as though these people stand still, either. They’re changing, too.

PC: Yeah, I know those are two really good examples of people that, you buy their CDs from years ago, and the ones now, and it sounds like different people.

MIB: Yeah. Do you have any favorite songwriters?

PC: Johnny Mandel is definitely one of my favorites. It goes without saying, all the great ones, like Cole Porter, Gershwins, Johnny Mercer, Kurt Weill…there’s so many. But there’s something about Johnny Mandel, you know, arranging wise, and the melodies he comes up with are always guaranteed to be beautiful.

MIB: You’ve drawn from a lot of classic American songbook material, and you also do some contemporary numbers…what kinds of things attract you to a song?

PC: Well, I think the two obvious components that have to be attractive are the melody and the lyric, and not only as separate entitites, but when they’re combined, that the melody and lyric combine and mesh well. There’s so many great songs out there, I think it’s a matter of, not picking the great songs, but it’s about picking the songs that I’m connected to. Like on the record I wanted to be sure that I was connected to each and every song on there. The last think I want to do is sing overdone songs. I mean, I was worried about even putting “Ain’t Misbehavin’” on the record, but given the fact that Fats Waller was such a big influence on me, and an early influence, I kind of wanted to pay tribute to him, but you know, that’s part of the reason why I write my own music. You know, we wanted to create a theme, me and Phil Ramone, who produced the record, of old and new throughout, so there are some old standards on there, and then there are some new songs, and ones that I wrote—which people say sound like older songs, that have been around a little longer, just by the sound. Then there’s some other songs, I mean I wanted to combine “Fool on the Hill,” the Beatles song, with “Nature Boy,” the Nat King Cole song, and it just gave me a chance to combine two musical eras. Not like the Beatles is new, but it’s just a different musical era that’s not generally associated with the music of Nat King Cole. That’s also why I wanted to pay tribute to Erroll Garner with a Blood, Sweat & Tears song; we just constantly wanted to create these hybrids throughout the record.

>>CONTINUED