Pianist and composer Leslie Pintchik found the title for her
new album in one of those "only in New York" moments. While crossing
Canal Street at West Broadway in the SoHo section of Manhattan, she heard a
voice behind her yell, "You eat my food, you drink my wine, you steal my
girl!" As it happened, she'd just completed writing a new composition, and
at that very moment she knew she'd found its title. It was a perfect fit for
the sharp-elbows vibe of the piece, with its samba-funk groove, understated
humor and fender-bender of an ending. So with one gruff shout, serendipity
handed her a bold, spunky title, for a bold, spunky tune.
With its implied but elusive narrative and personality to
spare, the outburst also turned out to be a perfect title for Pintchik's new
recording, which features six of her original tunes and two standards. As on
her five previous albums, Pintchik has penned a collection of songs overflowing
with warmth, humor, tenderness, depth and smarts - without forsaking her
razor-sharp edge. Pintchik is unique in combining a brisk energy and drive with
a gift for accessible, infectious melodies - like that overheard accusation,
her music strikes a unique balance between the sharp-edged and the charming.
You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl! will be released
February 23, 2018 via Pintch Hard Records.
In his liner notes for the CD, Allen Morrison writes
"As a composer, [Pintchik is] like a novelist, unspooling each song like a
good story with twists and turns, and with a story-teller's patience and sense
of form. And, like a good novel, her songs appeal to both the head and the
heart; they are subtle, sometimes wry, sometimes somber. I think they're
not-so-buried treasures, waiting to be discovered by other jazz artists."
In addition, the wide range of grooves (samba-funk with a touch of partido
alto, swing, bolero, traditional samba, straight-eighths, and ballads-all
played with exceptional skill and pizzazz by Leslie and her top-notch band
members) is a great added pleasure.
For this outing, Pintchik returns once again with the
musicians with whom she has played and recorded for many years: Steve Wilson on
alto sax, Ron Horton on trumpet and flugelhorn, Scott Hardy on bass and guitar,
drummer Michael Sarin, and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. On accordion, Shoko
Nagai is the newcomer, and a wonderfully intriguing addition to the mix.
Recalling the recording session, Pintchik said "I had the time of my life
playing with these extraordinary musicians and people, all gems and superb
players."
"You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My
Girl!" is not the only mouthful of a title on the album. It's topped by
"Your call will be answered by our next available representative, in the
order in which it was received. Please stay on the line; your call is important
to us," which should instantly raise the blood pressure of anyone who's
ever wasted hours of their life on hold to fix - or at least attempt to - a
problem that's already wasted too much time. Fueled by that all-too-common experience,
the tune swings hard with a fervor born of equal parts frustration and an antic
comic spirit. Special kudos to the rhythm section for its drive amidst the
unexpected stops and starts.
From the playful to the poignant: Pintchik's ballad
"Mortal" was written, she says, "to express a sense of life's
fragility, beauty, and especially shortness." A highlight of the set,
"Mortal" showcases a fearless use of space and silence, and gorgeous
heart-on-the-sleeve solos from Pintchik, Wilson, Horton and Hardy. (Of
particular note is Horton's flugelhorn solo, which is both beautiful and
wrenching.) On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, "Happy
Dog," as its name suggests, is a cheerful tune. Shoko Nagai plays the
melody in unison with Pintchik, and the samba-based rhythm provides a simpatico
backdrop for the wonderfully frisky solos of Pintchik, Hardy and Takeishi.
Like Pintchik's tunes, Edward Hopper's paintings are
renowned for suggesting stories not quite told in full within the confines of
their canvases. A tune with a straight eighths time feel that features Shoko
Nagai on accordion, "Hopperesque" was inspired by the iconic artist's
work, especially those paintings that depict people in the kind of threshold
moments that provoke the viewer to wonder what happened before, and what might
come after, the scene we're presented with. "I've tried," Pintchik
says, "to capture that feeling of mystery."
One of the earliest tunes written for the album, "A
Simpler Time" was inspired by the composer's trip to the Hancock Shaker
Village in Massachusetts, where she was touched by the rare adult cradles that
she saw, used to soothe the elderly and infirm. Pintchik characterizes the
piece as "an adult lullaby." In his liner notes, Morrison writes "There's
an emotional maturity to it that seems to acknowledge that life itself is not
simple, that we are often overwhelmed with hard choices and mixed emotions, and
we have a universal need for kindness. As with so many of Leslie's songs, the
melody is memorable, but not simple."
Approaching the album's standards with the same unique
perspective and wry insight that she brings to her own tunes, Pintchik plays
the jazz and pop standard "I'm Glad There Is You" as a bolero, which
affords the melody of this love song a lot of breathing room. In his liner
notes to the CD, Allen Morrison writes "It's one of the most tender
readings of this great song (by Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira) that I've ever
heard." The Jerome Kern/Otto Harbach chestnut "Smoke Gets In Your
Eyes" is played as a samba, with an added catchy rhythmic hook that
bookends the melody. This version features a wonderfully relaxed rhythm section
that, in the ending tag, builds up a strong head of caffeinated Brazilian
steam, before the rhythmic hook returns, and it's over and out.
Before embarking on a career in jazz, Leslie Pintchik was a
teaching assistant in English literature at Columbia University, where she also
received her Master of Philosophy degree in seventeenth-century English literature.
She first surfaced on the Manhattan scene in a trio with legendary bassist Red
Mitchell at Bradley's, and in the ensuing years Pintchik formed her own trio
which performs regularly at New York City jazz venues. Pintchik's debut CD So
Glad To Be Here was released in June 2004, followed by Quartets in 2007. About
So Glad To Be Here, Ken Micallef wrote in DownBeat "Pintchik's music is
fresh, full of light and instantly invigorating (4 stars)." In the fall of
2010, she released her third CD We're Here To Listen, as well as a DVD Leslie
Pintchik Quartet Live In Concert. Jim
Wilke, creator of the nationally syndicated "Jazz After Hours" radio
show included We're Here To Listen on his "Best CDs of 2010" list,
and the jazz journalist and scholar W. Royal Stokes included both projects in
his "Best of 2010" list. Pintchik's fourth CD In The Nature Of Things
was released on March, 2014. Steve Futterman, in The New Yorker magazine,
called it "...one of the more captivating recordings to come out so far
this year...", and Gary Walker of WBGO jazz radio called it "...a
gorgeous display of the trio." In his review of Pintchik's fifth CD True
North-released in March, 2016-Dan Bilawsky in AllAboutJazz.com wrote
"Leslie Pintchik's music has a magical draw to itŠ Getting lost in this
music is simply a joy. If 2016 has a more pleasurable listen to offer than True
North, this writer hasn't heard it yet. (4 1/2 stars)"
In addition to composing the music for her band, Leslie has
also written the liner notes for some notable recent jazz CDs, including
Duologue by saxophonist Steve Wilson and drummer Lewis Nash (on the MCG label),
and Daybreak by pianist Bruce Barth (on the Savant label).
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