With 2 hit recordings, an unending performance schedule, talk show guest spots, and a feature film role (Beyond the Sea), singer/pianist Peter Cincotti has already attained supernova status at only 21. A native of Manhattan, Cincotti was a toddler when he first showed some musical talent playing a toy piano, and started lessons at age four. His early exposure to jazz included Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, and he identifies Nat King Cole, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Keith Jarrett as early muses. When he was seven, he sat in with Harry Connick Jr. at a show at Bally's Grand in Atlantic City. He studied classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music, studied jazz piano privately with Ellis Marsalis, and was playing professionally in New York clubs by age 12. Adding vocals to his piano at age 15, he toured with Connick. In 2000 he won a prize in a piano competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and in 2002, at 18, he became the youngest performer to headline at the famed Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel in New York. Cincotti has released two recordings for Concord Records, his self-titled debut album in 2003, which reached Billboard's #1 (he is the youngest jazz artist to hit the top spot), and On the Moon, which debuted at #2 on Billboard's Jazz Charts in late 2004. Frequently compared to his early mentor Harry Connick, Cincotti was the 2004 winner of Swing magazine's Best New Star award.

A veteran of nearly thirty years of touring and recording, vocalist Dianne Reeves has taken her time in developing a reputation as a jazz interpreter. Criticized by some purists for her forays into pop and R&B, today Reeves has a run of successful Blue Note recordings and two consecutive Grammys (2001 and 2002). The Detroit native was raised in Denver, where she sang and recorded with her high school band. With encouragement from Clark Terry, she performed with the legendary trumpter while attending the University of Colorado. Working in Los Angeles in the mid-70s, Reeves was much in demand as a studio musician, recording for drummer Lenny White, saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, and drummer Alphonzo Johnson. Later she worked fulltime with pianist Billy Childs, and in the 1980s, toured with Sergio Mendes and Harry Belafonte in addition to popular stints on the festival circuit. Having switched gears frequently among jazz, pop, and African music, Reeves became more focused on jazz in the 1990s, and released a number of acclaimed recordings for Blue Note, in the company of such artists as Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Stanley Clarke, Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, and many others.

On The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughn (2001, Blue Note), Reeves paid tribute to the vocalist who influenced her to seriously pursue a singing career. Her latest, the critically A Little Moonlight, was nominated for a Grammy. Other recent highlights include her 2002 performance at the Winter Olympics closing ceremonies, an appearance (and vocal) in the 2002 season finale of Sex and the City, and her appointment as Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in late 2002. As inspired as her recent recordings have been, Reeves particularly shines in live performance. Wrote critic David Nathan, "Reeves's shows are invariably filled with energy, spontaneity, and passion, and she displays amazing vocal virtuosity with a repertoire that spans original tunes...standards, and an eclectic mix of pop and soul songs."

Opening for Dianne Reeves at Orchestra Hall will be the eclectic banjo master, Tuey Connell. Through his singing, songwriting, and banjo and guitar playing, Connell melds jazz, blues, folk, rock, and gospel into what he terms "root music." And his musical roots run deep: Connell grew up on his family's vineyard in Connecticut, where his mother sang and played piano and guitar; his father introduced young Tuey to such diverse music as the Kingston Trio, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Wes Montgomery, Flatt & Scruggs, B.B. King, the Allman Brothers, and even Mozart. Connell focused on the banjo, ultimately moving to Chicago and receiving an Artist Fellowship Grant from the Illinois Arts Council for contemporary banjo composition in 1991. Performing throughout the U.S. and Europe, Connell was frequently sought as a sideman and for radio and television commercial jingles. In 1997, he founded TuConn Music as a means of promoting his own music. After a second CD created interest in his jazz leanings, his work came to the attention of Germany's Minor Music label, which has now produced several recordings including the recent release, Under the Influence. Said Show Business, "Connell's rich dark-hued baritone drips with sex appeal and he swings with an easy elegance that's equal parts Johnny Hartman and Kenny Rankin." Connell performed to enthusiastic audiences at the Dakota last spring.

Closing out this February festival is guitar virtuoso Pat Metheny, who is credited with redefining the jazz guitar. Born into a musical family in Kansas City, Metheny originally played trumpet but switched to guitar at age 12, and was getting steady work with leading jazz musicians by age 15. He got his first international exposure in 1974, made his debut recording with Paul Bley and Jaco Pastorius, and then played with Gary Burton for three years. Already his style had the flexibility of horn players, reflecting a modern approach to improvisation, rhythm, and harmony, while still deeply rooted in swing and the blues.

Over his 30-year career, Metheny has performed and/or recorded with Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Milton Nascimento, Michael Brecker, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins, Sonny Rollins, Roy Haynes, Dave Holland, and David Bowie; has collaborated for over 20 years with keyboardist Lyle Mays; and has composed works for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet, in settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical. Metheny has also enjoyed a long career as a music educator—he was the youngest teacher (18) ever at the University of Miami, the youngest teacher ever at the Berklee College of Music (19), and has taught music workshops all over the world, from the Dutch Royal Conservatory to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz to clinics in Asia and South America. He's also been a pioneer in guitar technology, as one of the first jazz musicians to treat the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument, using the Synclavier as a composing tool, and helping to develop several new guitars such as the soprano acoustic guitar and the 42-string Pikasso guitar.

Metheny's career has been heavily dotted with raves from critics and audiences. He has won numerous polls as "Best Jazz Guitarist," three gold records for (Still Life) Talking, Letter from Home, and Secret Story, and has won fifteen Grammy Awards including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, and Best Instrumental Composition. His primary ensemble, the Pat Metheny Group, won an unprecedented seven consecutive Grammies for seven consecutive recordings. Of his latest release on Nonesuch (The Way Up, 2004), Doug Collette (All About Jazz) noted, "The Way Up is one of those recordings that, as evidence of continuing progression on the part of its leader, make you glad to be alive at the same time as a creative artist such as Pat Metheny."

Advance purchase of tickets for Peter Cincotti (February 18), Dianne Reeves with Tuey Connell (February 19) and/or Pat Metheny (February 22) is highly recommended. Contact the Minnesota Orchestra Hall Box Office at (612) 371-5656 or Toll-free (800) 292-4141, or find information and tickets online at http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/boxoffice/index.cfm