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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