Gilberto, Cincotti create an attractive package.

Byline: Paul Denison The Register-Guard

On the surface, a Bebel Gilberto/Peter Cincotti double bill would seem perfect for a romantic night on the town with that special someone.

Both specialize in rhythmically and melodically seductive music. And both have earned Glamour magazine's highest - or perhaps only - accolade: "sexy."

Just be careful, if you're the gal, that your guy doesn't drift away backstage humming in Portuguese when Gilberto finishes her set. And if you're the drifter, when you come back brokenhearted, you might find your gal out at the curb inviting Cincotti to take her to the moon.

That this Brazilian woman with a bossa nova pedigree and this Italian-American with a shooting star aura are an attractive package would go without saying - if it hadn't just been said.

What might not be so obvious is that these two "beginning" performers with bright futures have respect and affection for their musical ancestors. Their sophisticated material should appeal not just to young lovers, but to anyone with even vestigial romantic inclinations.

Bossa nova runs in the blood

Gilberto is the daughter of bossa nova godfather Joao Gilberto and bossa chanteuse Miucha. She started out singing her father's songs at home; when she was 9, she sang standards at Carnegie Hall alongside her mother.

Gilberto grew up breathing bossa nova. But when she really went out on her own as a grown woman, she did it her own way - and in a big way. Gilberto's 2000 debut album, "Tanto Tempo," sold almost a million copies worldwide, including 300,000 in North America.

In a full-length profile for Global Rhythm, Paul Sullivan wrote that the album's "modernist mix of modern bossa nova and attenuated electronics seeped like a euphonious gas from chic bars and trendy restaurants, clued-up dentists' offices and sophisticated hair salons, intoxicating all who inhaled its gentle, soothing va- pors."

Sullivan added that the album's "success with the inner-city hipster cognoscenti must surely have been connected with the unabashed romanticism inherent in the songs, the way they acted as a canorous (that is, richly melodious, pleasant-sounding) balm for the bruising hypervelocity of modern living and fin-de-siecle stresses."

"Tanto Tempo" was followed a year later by a remix LP with accentuated electronics. She has followed a similar pattern with her second album.

"Bebel Gilberto" (2004) is the straight stuff, described by Tom Moon in a Philadelphia Inquirer review as "lush, entrancing post-bossa using primarily acoustic instruments and suave strings."

Gilberto wrote or co-wrote nine of the 12 songs on the CD. One on which she has sole credit is "O Caminho," a sad and lonely song, sung in Portuguese, that sounds and feels like a classic in both the original version and the 2005 remix by Guy Sigsworth.

"Bebel Gilberto Remixed" also includes tracks produced by Thievery Corporation, Tom Middleton, DJ Spinna, Spiritual South, Telefon Tel Aviv and others. The crossovers broaden the album's appeal way beyond the aging group whose introduction to Brazilian pop music may have begun with her father and his first wife, Astrud Gilberto.

On her eight-date tour with Cincotti, Gilberto is backed by Pedro "Baby" Gomes and Masa Shimizy on guitars and Mauro Refosco on percussion.

An early start on the piano

Cincotti's music career began when he was 3, on a toy piano that his grandmother gave him for his birthday. He started taking lessons when he was 4 and got his first real piano when he was 5.

Jerry Lee Lewis was one of his early heroes, followed by Bill Evans, Erroll Garner, Keith Jarrett and Oscar Peterson.

Cincotti considers himself a piano player first and a singer second, aiming to emulate Nat "King" Cole and especially Ray Charles in their ability to seamlessly meld playing and singing. He's been called "Frank Sinatra for the junior set" and compared to both Harry Connick Jr. and Norah Jones.

On his second album, "On the Moon," tracks such as "I Love Paris" and "Raise the Roof" suggest that it may be a while before Cincotti's vocals catch up to his keyboard skills. But he already shows range and promise as a song stylist.

USA Today summed it up pretty well, calling Cincotti "a prodigiously gifted pianist and an interpretive singer of considerable charm."

On songs such as "St. Louis Blues," "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "You Don't Know Me," Cincotti finds just the right balance. And he cuts loose instrumentally on "Cherokee."

Cincotti also wrote four of the songs on this album, and he sings them all very effectively.

"The Girl for Me Tonight" is a mildly smarmy come-on that might work in a nightclub but not in a concert hall. "I'd Rather Be With You" may not win prizes for originality, but it's more heartfelt and has a higher swoon factor. It could become his signature song.

Both "On the Moon" and Cincotti's self-titled debut album hit the heights on the Billboard jazz charts. He's been busy since - as a musician, a fashion model and even an actor, playing a featured role as Dick Berhke in "Beyond the Sea," Kevin Spacey's Bobby Darin biopic.

Oh, and he has a brain, too. When he's not on the road, he's a student at Columbia University.

Reach Paul Denison at 338-2323 or pdenison@guardnet .com.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Bebel Gilberto

and Peter Cincotti

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday

Where: Shedd Concert Hall, 285 E. Broadway

Tickets: $36.50, $32.50 and $28.50, 434-7000 or [phone]

Pre-concert dinner: Set menu, family style, reservations only in the Shedd gym; $16.75 not including beverage at 687-6526

CAPTION(S):

Bebel Gilberto has bossa nova music in her genes. Peter Cincotti has been called "Frank Sinatra for the junior set" and compared to Harry Connick Jr. and Norah Jones.