The Best Is Yet to Come

JAZZ WUNDERKIND PETER CINCOTTI'S DEBUT CD

Long before he was tall, handsome, and oh-so-debonair in an Armani suit, Peter Cincotti was a pint-size prodigy who discovered the keyboard at three and began performing as a seven-year-old protege of Harry Connick Jr. ("I don't remember being nervous, but my mother was a wreck!") A stunningly precocious jazz pianist, singer, and composer, Cincotti was starring Off Broadway and drawing celebrity-studded crowds to Manhattan hot spots while he was still in high school at Horace Mann. 1 8 AND GOING ON LEGEND, raved The New York Times when Cincotti's debut at the Oak Room last year made him the youngest headliner in the Algonquin Hotel's 100-year history. Now a Columbia University sophomore, Cincotti returns to the Oak Room this month with the release of his self-titled CD, a deft and swoony compilation of songs produced by Phil Ramone. Cincotti's selections range from standards ("They may be old to you, but they're new to me") to his own compositions, all delivered with the consummate musical authority he developed as a child who idolized Erroll Garner and mastered Sinatra, Billie Holiday, and Fats Waller. When Cincotti was 13, his father was arriving at a New York club for Peter's second set when he had a heart attack and died on the sidewalk outside. The tragedy made Peter grow up fast. "This kid knows exactly where he wants to go," says his mother, Cynthia. "He's got a vision. He wants it all."

LESLIE BENNETTS