by Steve Koenig

This is a major talent. Cincotti is a jazz singer who breaks all the rules of "contemporary" pop and jazz by winning through a seeming simplicity. There are no gospel-tinged arabesques, there are no sustained notes, nothing to prove he's like the dog in the old saying: one who does it simply because he can. He is cocky, but has none of the smugness I hear in Connick or Blue Eyes; this is youth, knowing the world is yours, and being right about that. There is no Brat Pack finger-popping, and yet if he can act as well, Hollywood awaits; the booklet photos reveal an Italian-looking Matt Damon.

Let's start with the voice. Clear, youthful, direct. Every sung syllable is heard, but for the listener, this is not an elocution lesson. All friends and lovers should be so direct. The final word of each line ends cleanly. He has an amazing facility to cleanly reach notes which you swear would strain. Check "Sway": it's not the bass which makes this sultry number about a dance so hip-moving and private, it's the voice. It's the very subtle pull of spaces within and between the words which make him more a jazz singer than a cabaret performer. "Miss Brown To You" is a fine example of this. Listen to "Lovers, Secrets, Lies" for how one can reveal without winking. "Rainbow Connection," the closer, has all the anthemic and cabaret cachÈ it would need to be on a Morgana King album, but it manages to eschew the icky-ness inherent in a lyric to a title like that, and winds up being a very moving close to an already moving album.

The songs chosen for this album are perfect for Cincotti's voice, persona and the album theme, with two quibbles. The piano intro of "Fool On the Hill" segues into a sung "Nature Boy," but the concept remains conceptual rather than musical; it would have needed both to be sung for that to work. Also, David Clayton Thomas' "Spinning Wheel." Why? Actually, it's a piano solo and its jaunty stride is clever and fun.

Phil Ramone produced the disc, which means a clean, uncluttered production. Rich recording. This has been on my portable more than any other album this year except maybe Bobby Enriquez' The Wildman Returns of a decade ago.

Tracks: I Changed The Rules/ Comes Love/ Are You The One?/ Sway/ Miss Brown/ Lovers, Secrets, Lies/Fool On the Hill-Nature Boy/Ain't Misbehavin'/Come Live Your Life With Me/Spinning Wheel/You Stepped Out Of A Dream/ Rainbow Connection

Personnel: Peter Cincotti, vocals, piano; David Finck, bass; Kenny Washington, drums; Scott Kreitzer, tenor sax (2,5,11)

Total Time: 48:30.

Recording: Avatar Studios. NYC, no date given.