He is not laid back. He doesn't talk about health food. He doesn't once use the term "cosmic," make a reference to his shaman, or quote from the poetry of Khalil Gibran.

And boy, does he get fired-up if you ever so much as ask why they called it "New Age Music."

In other words, pianist George Winston, who plays The Emelin Theatre on Saturday, is not what you expect. Probably a coffee drinker, instead of a Celestial Seasonings type of guy, he even calls an hour early for our conversation.

"I  really started by playing guitar as a kid. I fooled around  a little on the piano. Then, when I was 17, I heard The Doors," said Winston, a convivial, intense-sounding fellow. "Specifically (keyboardist) Ray Manzarek. That's probably what made me get serious about the keyboard. I'd already loved Fats Waller and Vince Guaraldi, but Manzarek changed everything for me. Especially when I heard him solo."

Ah, yes, the solos.

If there's any one musician-except for Keith Jarrett—who has made it all right  for a man to sit at a piano and play unaccompanied, often improvising his head off, it's George Winston.

On records like "Autumn," "December" and the more recent, "Love Will Come-The Music Of Vince Guaraldi Vol 2," Winston has shown a pioneer spirit in his playing. Meaning, he'll go anywhere, alone, musically speaking, without a map. He incorporates jazz, folk, classical and rock into a unified whole that is as adventurous as it is popular. Both "December" and "Winter Into Spring" have gone platinum; fairly unheard of for solo piano albums. In the process, he made Windham Hill, the label that signed him, a name synonymous with that 'New Age' stuff.

For better and worse.

Winston says the term is "meaningless" and it's all about "marketing."

He's been hailed as a genius.  And been dismissed as a 'noodler.'

The Vince Guaraldi albums (Volume 1 is terrific, as is 'Love') show Winston to be closer to the former. He's got a strong grip on that composer's melodic ideas, a growing confidence in his own left hand and an improvisational ability that is sorely underrated. Guaraldi brings that out.

"I didn't know at first, what is was about Vince's music that knocked me out. But when I was a kid and saw 'A Charlie Brown Christmas,' that was a defining moment for me. I went out the next day and bought the soundtrack. As I learned how to play, I realized it was Guaraldi's songs, the melodies, partly. But, really, the way he voiced his chords, that really impacted me."

As someone who doesn't like to get boxed in, Winston also, in the late 90s, did a nice job on songs by his 60s heroes, on the album, "Night Divides The Day: Music Of The Doors."

He also speaks warmly of pianists as disparate as (country legend) Floyd Cramer, Randy Newman and James Booker. Expect to hear trace elements of all these people, if you come to the Emelin. And, oh yes, Winston has one constant in his ever-evolving life: he still doesn't wear shoes when he plays.

"It's not a gimmick or anything," he said of his onstage trademark. "I need to feel the pedals when I play and I can't if I have shoes on. Also, shoes make noise."

But, in the end, it's all about the music for Winston. Not about what he wears on his feet. And despite rebelling against the New Age tag, Winston does have a clear, concise, and yes, cosmic, view, when he sums up his own musical evolution.

"If you stay close to your vision, as my heroes like Art Tatum and others have done, you transcend labels and genres after a while. And, if you're lucky, you become your own genre. When it's all said and done and people talk about what I've done? I hope they'll refer to it as George Winston Music. That would be cool."

IF YOU GO:

George Winston will be playing at The Emelin Theatre on Oct. 23, at 8:00p.m. Tickets are $40. Winston asks that audience members bring non-perishable food items to the show. Both they and all proceeds from his show merchandise will go to the St. Thomas Table Hospitality and Food Pantry. For ticket info call 914-698-0098. 

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story erroneously listed a different pantry.