Peter Cincotti rose to fame as a jazz pianist. His new album features pop songs.When singer-pianist Peter Cincotti showed up to speak to CNN in 2004, he was fresh-faced and impeccably dressed in a suit and shiny shoes.
Seated at a piano, and under the watchful eye of his very sweet mother Cynthia, Cincotti performed the standard "How High the Moon," showing off piano skills you'd expect from someone far beyond his 21 years.
His debut album had just topped the Billboard traditional jazz chart -- the youngest artist to claim such a feat.
Now 25, Cincotti is still fresh-faced, but he sings to a very different tune. Looking trendy in a fitted sweater, his hair a little looser, his personality more playful -- mom didn't come to this interview -- Peter has gone pop.
"He's this great jazz pianist," says producer David Foster, who worked on Cincotti's new album. "And he just turned the whole thing 180 and wrote these incredible pop songs."
To Cincotti, whose pop debut "East of Angel Town" was released last week on Warner Bros. Records, the switch isn't that big a deal.
"I'm a musician," he says. "I was just playing what I love then, and I'm playing what I love now."
Enlisting Foster to help navigate the transition was crafty: Foster is a 15-time Grammy winner with an undeniable knack for generating pop hits. He also has a reputation for getting his way in the studio. But Cincotti, a native New Yorker, didn't make things easy.
"He's a control freak, too, so we butted heads a lot," says Foster. "And he actually made me come to New York to make the record. And I don't like New York because I'm claustrophobic and I don't dig elevators. But he made me come here for three months. That's how much I loved his music."
Cincotti smiles when he recalls the expletive-ridden voicemail message Foster left him expressing his displeasure over having to vacate his Los Angeles base to work on the project.
"I saved that message," Cincotti says. "It's great."
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