JazzNights is a series of house concerts begun in 2002 by Mary Wisnovsky and Maitland Jones. Over the years, we have hosted some of the best jazz musicians in the world. We would be pleased to have you join us; just browse the website and contact us if you are interested. Reservations by email to: mjjr@princeton.edu. 

JazzNights (117)

Leslie Pintchik Quartet 

Leslie Pintchik (Piano), Scott Hardy (Bass), Michael Sarin (Drums)

with

Steve Wilson

SORRY SOLD OUT!

saxophones

On Sunday, September 27th at 4 pm JazzNights will present Leslie Pintchik’s long standing trio with her collaborator, Steve Wilson, on reeds. The event will be held in the Hockaday/Jones Barn at 78 Moores Mill Mt. Rose Road, Hopewell, NJ 08525. Directions are posted on our website. We are asking for a contribution of $60 per person. As always, we offer about two hours of great music, good snacks, and an open bar. I am sorry to raise the donation to $60, but, as you can imagine, my costs have increased a lot and I just have to do it to come close to breaking even. May I remind you that reserving and not using that reservation raises the fee to everyone. So, if you reserve but change your mind or can’t make it, PLEASE let me know by email so we can try to give away your reservation to someone on the wait list.

 Please email your reservation to mjjr@princeton.edu. You can either send me a check at the address above (preferred) or pay at the door.

  I can't remember exactly when I first met Ms Pintchik, but it was several years ago, when she was recommended to me as someone I had to hear. That I did, and she has now appeared four times at JazzNights with her trio, always featuring her husband, the brilliant bassist, Scott Hardy (JN32 in 2009, JN55 in 2013, JN83 in 2017 and JN103 in 2023). She is that rare pianist with an instantly recognizable "voice" and her trios combine her excellent originals with inventively reworked standards. There is much virtue in group longevity and in the compatibility from which longevity derives. In the old days, musicians often worked together for years, listening to each other, learning from each other, and developing a recognizable group sound that couldn't be missed. That's all too rare these days, as the lack of reliable, steady gigs and today's fragmented, "here today, elsewhere tomorrow, and somewhere else the next day" style has made the kind of steady growth working groups once achieved difficult. There are exceptions, and Leslie Pintchik's trio is one of them. She, her husband, bassist Scott Hardy have been playing together since the early 1990's, and it shows.

She is something of a late-comer to jazz, as she started her serious musical development in jazz only after getting her masters in English literature from Columbia. Instead of going on in that realm, she matriculated at another "University," Bradley's, the legendary club on University Place.* No better place for an aspiring pianist, that's for sure. She attracted the attention of the great bassist Red Mitchell, and soon she, Red, and Scott - on guitar at that time - were a working trio.

Her current trio includes Michael Sarin on drums, and benefits from regular gigs in Westchester and New York. The group is sophisticated, subtle, and always swinging. Her work often features imaginative deconstructions of tunes from the American songbook. It is instructive to contrast her approach with that of others who take a "deconstructive" view of standards. Compare her version of "Happy Days Are Here Again" with that of the gifted pianist Orrin Evans, who has done a different "Happy" tune more than once on CD - "I Want to be Happy." Both do these improbable standards brilliantly, and begin at roughly the same gentle, even glacial pace. But Orrin first rips his tune to pieces, then puts it back together with bravura gusto, whereas Leslie and her cohorts prize Happy Days apart, show us all that's going on inside, then use a delicate reconstitution to bring us back. Both approaches work, but hers is the more gorgeous and, I suspect, the more long-lasting version. I once heard the trio do Leonard Bernstein's "Somewhere" at the Kitano* a few years ago. My notes show that I was skeptical - to be honest, I don't think Mr. Bernstein's tunes usually work well in a jazz context - but I was completely won over – I wrote, "there's a section where she caresses the notes beautifully - utterly appropriate. Then they go theatrical, and loud. Super." That tune opens her CD "Quartets" as well, see below.

The trio also does inventively crafted originals. She's a strong composer, as is Scott Hardy, who is a real force in this trio. He, and Michael Sarin are far more than accompanists here.

Leslie Pintchik CDs: Editorial comment: Not only are these CDs musically excellent, but they are beautifully designed. And I absolutely love the new label name - see below.

So Glad To Be Here, Ambient 003, 2004, (with Scott Hardy and Satoshi Takeishi)

Quartets, Ambient 006, 2007 (with Hardy, Mark Dodge and either Steve Wilson or Satoshi Takeishi)

We're Here to Listen, Pintch Hard Records CD 001 (with Hardy, Dodge and Takeishi)

In the Nature of Things, Pintch Hard 002 (Hardy, Sarin, Takeishi, Steve Wilson, Ron Horton)

True North, Pintch Hard 003, (Hardy, Sarin, Takeishi, Wilson, Horton)

You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl, Pintch Hard 004, (Hardy, Sarin)

Same Day Delivery, Pintch Hard 005, (Hardy, Sarin)

Prayer for What Remains (with Steve Wilson) Pintch Hard 006

There is also a nice DVD, Leslie Pintchik Live in Concert, Pintch Hard Records DVD 001

In recent years, Steve Wilson, long unfairly labeled the “quintessential sideman,” has emerged as one the leading alto saxophonists of our time and as a master of the difficult soprano saxophone. His rightful ascendance was marked by a week-long 50th birthday fest at the Jazz Standard** that featured his long-lived quartet with Bruce Barth, Adam Cruz, and Ed Howard plus a lineup of stellar guests and friends. I only made it to a couple of the events, but I vividly recall the quality of the music – often tunes Wilson wrote for friends – James Williams and Billy Childs for example - and that the room was filled with his fellow musicians – it was a fitting tribute. On one evening at the Jazz Standard,** they were fabulous, again often playing tunes for friends - "Perry Street," for fellow saxophonist Rich Perry, for example. I like that kind of tribute - there is a counterpart in chemistry - naming molecules for your friends. I did that a lot. This group had been together for several years and it really showed. They were tight, yet they provided the requisite looseness that enables creativity. In the midst of a live performance of "Well, You Needn’t" for example, pianist Orrin Evans slows the frantic pace, then quotes a different Monk tune within this Monk classic. I'll spare you more comments from my semi-intelligible notes; instead here are Mr. Wilson's own thoughts on his CD,  “Wilsonian's Grain:”

 "Old Socks with New Shoes...I've had a vast amount of playing experiences over the past ten years, with some of my jazz heroes, and with many, many friends. These last ten years have been fruitful and so rewarding, and had a profound influence on me. Now, I'm really interested in re-examining some of my earlier compositions that had not yet been fully explored on the bandstand, with this … band.”

 So, please join us this September for this reunion of old friends – you’ll love it.

 *Now gone, alas.

**Yes, the Jazz Standard is also gone, another victim of the Covid 19 pandemic. For years there have been rumors of its reemergence, but nothing ever happened….until this Spring when a version reopened as The Pocket on 46th St, between 6th and 7th avenues. I went a couple of times and it is a good room, filled with old time “regulars” from the Standard – recommended!