Peter Cincotti, Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho

· Playing Milan later but for Peter Cincotti beginning again last night in London it was the first time anywhere outside the US since the Pandemic and at legendary Soho basement spot the Pizza Express Jazz Club on Dean Street where the singer …

Published: 23 Sep 2021. Updated: 2 years.

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Playing Milan later but for Peter Cincotti beginning again last night in London it was the first time anywhere outside the US since the Pandemic and at legendary Soho basement spot the Pizza Express Jazz Club on Dean Street where the singer and pianist returned to after nearly 20 years and took to the stage for a solo performance. We caught the 11pm set. It's the build-up to 88 Keys and Me. The native New Yorker is at home on stage born to play. Cincotti's song for New York 'Heart of the City' was effective and better still was the beautiful homage to his dear father who passed away when Cincotti started gigging aged 13 and to be unveiled on 88 Keys and Me. 'Sway' from 2003's Peter Cincotti was silky and Cincotti kept Paul Williams classic 'Rainbow Connection' from the same album sensibly to the very last, the ultimate sentimental number which actually worked very well. From his back catalogue the East of Angel Town material functioned best of all with the tender 'Goodbye Philadelphia' boisterously heart on sleeve, 'December Boys' full of cadential delights and 'Witch's Brew' a crowd pleaser. Check the audio for exclusive word directly from Peter of what to expect on 88 Keys and Me.

Peter Cincotti in the Pizza Express Jazz Club photos: marlbank

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Jo Berger Myhre, Unheimlich Manoeuvre, RareNoise ****

Quite a dark album. There's also tension, suspense, a sense of moving beauty and a vision all as one. Norwegian bassist Myhre who was on Nils Petter Molvær's fine album Buoyancy has guitarist Jo David Meyer Lysne, pianist Jana Anisimova, …

Published: 22 Sep 2021. Updated: 2 years.

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Quite a dark album. There's also tension, suspense, a sense of moving beauty and a vision all as one. Norwegian bassist Myhre who was on Nils Petter Molvær's fine album Buoyancy has guitarist Jo David Meyer Lysne, pianist Jana Anisimova, keyboardist Morten Qvenild and on the Iranian goblet drum the tombak, a significant part of the sound in places, Kaveh Mahmudiyan, among the personnel. Compositions are by Myhre. The album uses spoken word text from Raymond Carver's 'I Could See the Smallest Things' one sign of an auteur's touch at play and not at all clunkily deployed. Head to 'Cynosure' for a clue as to how Unheimlich Manoeuvre uses space to its advantage best of all without being clinical.

There is a middle-eastern texture, a tangential relationship to electronica (not a useful term really but there isn't one that's perfect as a catch-all) and jazz (ditto) although most listeners who come to this record will be from a progressively-open jazz listener background deep down. The solo arco bass lines at the beginning of 'Peril' and the bass throb at the get-go of 'Inner Relations' are highlights. And yet this is very much a wide compositional statement and long-play listen beyond the individual moments of, yes, bliss. The invasive slap and tingle of the pulsing 'Aviary' blow us away. Out on Friday