In a
personal note that follows the liner notes of her impressive new CD In The
Nature Of Things (Pintch Hard Records), pianist and composer Leslie Pintchik
cites the "extraordinary warmth and generosity (not to mention the superb
musicianship) of all of the band members.
With that in mind," she continues, "I settled on the name In
The Nature Of Things to reflect the feeling I had that all of the musicians on
this date honored the fundamental intent and 'nature' of the music, as I had
conceived it."
Pintchik's
new recording features eight of her original tunes and one standard.
A
marvelously gifted and imaginative composer, Pintchik has imbued each track on
her new CD with a strong character and flavor of its own. The wide range of grooves - swing, New
Orleans second-line, samba and various Latin-based rhythms - and the equally
wide range of feeling inherent in the tunes inspired her well-seasoned band
members to take this material, run with it, and then some.
About
her band-mates, Pintchik writes "What great good luck to live in a city
where I've been able to meet and play with such creative, responsive musicians,
who consistently bring so much to the table." For this outing, Pintchik returns with two of
her treasured long-time cohorts, bassist Scott Hardy and percussionist Satoshi
Takeishi. Michael Sarin, the
extraordinary drummer with whom she's been playing for the past three years
rounds out the rhythm section. All three
track this multi-layered music beautifully, and always give it what it asks
for. The superb saxophonist Steve Wilson
(with whom she recorded on an earlier CD, Quartets) and the wonderfully
resourceful trumpeter Ron Horton complete the band.
As a
player, Pintchik's strong suit is an emotional directness and integrity that
allows her to conjure a wide range of moment-to-moment, unmediated
feeling. And with a beautifully nuanced
tone on her instrument, she evinces, by turns, the quiet delicacy and
tenderness of power in reserve, a very playful extroverted humor, and a sense
of urgency and play in her up-tempo pieces.
"I've
always loved pianist Herbie Hancock's tune 'Speak Like A Child' on his classic
CD with the same name," says Pintchik.
"And I was especially drawn," she continues, "to the way
he used the horns, to color, but not state the melody. With that as inspiration, Scott has written
some wonderfully inventive counter-melodies for the horns, on the six tunes
that feature Ron and Steve."
About
the music:
In The
Nature Of Things begins with the quietly seductive opening phrase of Pintchik's
"With You In Mind." A haunting
melody with a sense of yin and yang, it is both quiet and turbulent, tender and
urgent, and features strong feelingful solos from Pintchik, Wilson and Hardy.
"I'd
Turn Back if I Were You" takes its name verbatim from a sign at the
entrance to the Haunted Forest in the classic movie "The Wizard of
Oz." Set to a New Orleans
second-line rhythm, the tune's strong groove and sense of humor is enhanced by
the sassy James Brown influenced jabs from the horns. This humorous take on the dangerous Haunted
Forest is punctuated by the very loud repeated low note on the piano that
serves as a quirky, ominous turn-around at the end of the tune. Pintchik shines on an extroverted, enormously
playful solo.
On the
Lerner and Loewe standard "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," the
poignant melody, arranged by Pintchik and Hardy in an extended form with a
repeated ostinato rhythm, is set like a jewel.
Both the arrangement and the soloing showcase the especially sensitive
interplay between Pintchik and Hardy: a subtle knockout.
Inspired
by the color palette of her friend Peter Greene's paintings, the unusual flavor
of Pintchik's tune "Luscious" showcases a lyricism within a bright
straight-eighths tempo. All three
soloists (Pintchik, Wilson and Hardy) complete the picture with their vibrant
solos.
With its
happy, optimistic vibe, "Sparkle" is an appealing mid-tempo swinger
written, says Pintchik, "to reflect the warmth of our listeners over a
ten-year span of gigs at the recently closed Watercolor Café." Pintchik sets the tone with a joyful,
melodic, in-the-pocket solo. Next up is
Horton, who has a wonderfully uncommon mix of sweetness and excitement in his
solo, followed by Wilson who plays with a powerful and very deep swing.
A minor
blues that spans two twelve-bar choruses, "Terse Tune" has a very
spare melody, hence its name. Pintchik
describes it as "a brief tune with astringent harmonies that ends not with
a bang but a whimper." This vibey
romp with round-robin soloing, builds momentum throughout the track, and
climaxes with an exciting flag-waving section with "dueling" horns
trading choruses with "dueling" drums and percussion.
"Ripe"
is a short volatile piece, with rich harmonies and dynamic contrasts, set to a
loosely Latin-based groove. "With
his wonderful singing quality on flugelhorn, this is a beautiful feature for
Ron" says Pintchik. "Over the
years, I've heard both his drive and beautiful tone in many bands and many
contexts, and thought this tune would be a terrific fit for him." Although Horton's solo is both active and
intense, he still maintains the character of the tune, with its dark spacious
beauty. After a strong solo from Wilson,
Pintchik's solo builds slowly and crests beautifully on her third chorus,
before the return of the misterioso melody.
A samba
with a rich feeling of anticipation, "Ready" has a sparkly energy in
its groove, and a narrative with an attractive crescendo. This quartet piece features Pintchik, Hardy,
Sarin and Takeishi, in a beautiful dance, attuned to each other's every move.
The
opening three-note phrase of Pintchik's wonderfully playful up-tempo swing tune
"There You Go" is built around its three-word title, and the phrase
continues in different permutations throughout the piece. Performed live at a concert presented by the
Shandelee Music Festival as part of its New York City Showcase Series, this
trio track (with Pintchik, Hardy and Sarin) has an electric energy; the time
just sails. Pintchik and Hardy weigh in
with powerfully swinging solos, and Sarin wows the crowd with his closing
accompanied drum solo.
A richly
textured reading of Pintchik's imaginative original material, In The Nature Of
Things is a recording to savor.
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