| Jazz |
2024 is a year when composers of multiple talents seem to take the opportunity to introduce us to their works. Here, in a quintet, composer Leslie Pintchik is accompanied by excellent musicians: Leslie Pintchik on piano, bassist Scott Hardy, drummer Michael Sarin, as well as her close collaborators Satoshi Takeishi on percussion, and special guest Steve Wilson on saxophone. We are not the first to appreciate this album; here is what our colleagues have to say:
“…a composer of emotional depth and lyrical ease.” — *DownBeat*
“A clever improviser with a lyrical mind and a captivating composer…” — *The New Yorker*
“Losing oneself in this music is simply a pleasure.” — *AllAboutJazz*
“…of poignant beauty… a level of intimacy rare today in jazz.” — *JazzWax.com*
Carried away by the poetic emotions of the first track of this album, *Prayer For What Remains*, it resonates with all the complexity that an artist mastering the intricacies of classical music can deliver through sheet music. In a personal note that follows the liner notes of her new album, *Prayer for What Remains*, pianist/composer Leslie Pintchik writes that the title track “was inspired by a photograph taken by war photographer Joseph Eid. In it, a man smoking a pipe in Aleppo, Syria, sits in his bombed-out room, listening to music on a hand-cranked gramophone, running without electricity. A tragic image of war, certainly, but one that, according to Eid, ‘speaks of life.'”
But that’s not all. The emotional journey of creating this album compelled the composer to speak: Upon listening in the studio to the playback of *Prayer for What Remains*, Pintchik said she was particularly moved by the musicians’ performances, who played “so faithfully to the emotional heart of the piece.” She added: “A special thank you to Steve Wilson for the tenderness with which he played the countermelody, and for the passionate restraint and beauty of his solo.”
In these few words, the album is perfectly summarized, containing both a sincere reflection on this photograph and a musical universe filled with necessary hope. Its delicious complexity is perfectly described in the liner notes by Allen Morrison, who writes that Pintchik’s music “still doesn’t sound like anyone else’s. I always recognize her voice at the piano within a few measures… Her playing has a thoughtful, conversational quality; listening to her is like talking with a dear, intelligent, and complex friend.” About Pintchik’s bandmates, he says, “The telepathy the trio achieves on this album is only possible after many years of close collaboration. The same synergy and exceptional creativity can be found with the addition of Satoshi Takeishi and Wilson.”
One slips into this album without even realizing it, truly captivated by this enchanting music, conducive to daydreaming, with the instinctive gesture that places this album in the stack of ‘Indispensable’ albums of 2024, which is already richly endowed…
Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, September 7th 2024
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