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Leslie Pintchik

Before embarking on her musical career, NYC based jazz pianist and composer Leslie Pintchik taught English literature (as a teaching assistant) at Columbia University, where she also received her Master of Philosophy degree in seventeenth-century English literature. While in graduate school, she decided to change course in an effort to give music a larger place in her life. After some years of study, jam sessions and local restaurant gigs, Leslie surfaced on the Manhattan scene in a trio with legendary bassist Red Mitchell at Bradley's. Red chose Leslie (along with guitarist Scott Hardy) for the warmth and powerful interplay he heard in their music, after hearing a tape of them playing together as a duo. Red Mitchell wrote "Leslie Pintchik and Scott Hardy play miraculous music - in tune in all ways. And you can quote me on that."

In 1992, Leslie formed her own trio with her musical partner Scott Hardy (now playing bass instead of guitar) and with drummers Keith Copeland, Rich DeRosa and most notably, the percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, and the drummer Mark Dodge, with whom they have worked and toured since 1998. The trio has performed primarily in Manhattan at jazz venues that include Sweet Rhythm (formerly Sweet Basil), Knickerbocker, the Blue Note, 55 Bar, the Kitano, Zinno, Kavehaz, Watercolor Café, Sofia's and the Bottom Line. The group was one of four finalists in the 1995 Cognac Hennessy Jazz Search; subsequently, they shared a double bill with the Jay Leonhart trio at the Blue Note, and were the featured performers at the opening night gala of the 1996 Shandelee Music Festival. Bassist Scott Hardy presented the trio at the 1997 International Society of Bassists Convention held at Rice University in Houston.

In a review of their performance at the Canadian Jazz Expo in Toronto, Doug Watson of Jazz.FM91 wrote that he "found the group's playing to be the most musically satisfying listening experience heard there. All the essential elements were in place - well-constructed originals, great improvising and what really set this group apart from everything else I heard that weekend was its solid sense of swing!" About their demo recording Completely with Mark Dodge (which featured Leslie and Scott's original compositions), Jim Hall said, "I love the CD. The very first sound kept my attention All the Way. I loved the tunes and I loved the playing."

Leslie, with Scott and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, released her debut CD entitled So Glad to Be Here on Ambient Records in June 2004. In his review in the Audiofiles column in the September '05 issue of Downbeat magazine, Ken Micallef writes "... Pintchik's music is fresh, full of light and instantly invigorating.... So Glad To Be Here is simply a joyous release.... Pintchik and Takeishi express such playfulness in their musical conversations... that their elation is contagious."

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Album Review

Leslie Pintchik: You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl!

Read "You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl!" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Anche in quest'album la sensibile pianista e compositrice di New York, ripropone l'organico degli ultimi due dischi con l'aggiunta del fisarmonicista Shoko Nagai. E nuovamente si rinnova la fragranza delle sue composizioni, dove la tensione jazzistica si alimenta di suggestioni latine o lascia spazio a intime melodie. Dopo essersi esibita professionalmente per un ventennio senza incidere nulla, dal 2004 a oggi Leslie Pintchik ha registrato sette album, presentando proprie composizioni accanto ai classici del songbook statunitense. Qui la ...

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Album Review

Leslie Pintchik: You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl!

Read "You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl!" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


On this, her sixth album, pianist Leslie Pintchik shows that she can compose distinctive melodies. All of the original compositions she does on this CD are bright and memorable and even the two standards she covers are given surprising arrangements.She establishes herself from the beginning with the uniquely-titled “You Eat My Food." This turns out to be a nice piece of surging jazz-funk in the manner of early Herbie Hancock with a serpentine piano line and pithy accents ...

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Album Review

Leslie Pintchik: You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl!

Read "You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl!" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


If they gave out awards for album titles, this one would surely be in the running for top honors. “You eat my food, you drink my wine, you steal my girl" is a harsh and odd phrase that rolls off the tongue like some sort of backwoods country accusation-turned-lament, but its origins are far more urban in nature. While crossing a street in lower Manhattan, pianist Leslie Pintchik heard a nearby voice yell said curious and angry statement. Not one ...

Album Review

Leslie Pintchik: True North

Read "True North" reviewed by Luigi Sforza


Nella musica della pianista Leslie Pintchik non vi è alcuna traccia di rottura con la tradizione classica del jazz, tutt'altro. La presenza marcata di paradigmi noti privilegia l'interesse per un modello espressivo che nelle forme chiuse, siano esse blues o A-A-B-A ("Falling in Love Again"), trova il principio originario, la cornice all'interno della quale prendono corpo--sotto forma di temi e variazioni improvvisate -le melodie. La poderosità del tocco pianistico -ricco di spessore, rafforzato dall'uso massiccio del pedale di ...

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Album Review

Leslie Pintchik: True North

Read "True North" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Leslie Pintchik's music has a magical draw to it. Perhaps it has to do with her pearly and softly pronounced piano work, at once circuitous and direct in the way it shapes and navigates expressive pathways. Or maybe it has to do with her compositional acumen. Her pieces, after all, have a way of registering and resonating both with the pleasure center of the brain and the heart. Those are the most admirable qualities connected to Pintchik's art, and they ...

1
Album Review

Leslie Pintchik: In the Nature of Things

Read "In the Nature of Things" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo


Ancora una volta la pianista statunitense si impone con lucida ed inventiva cifra stilistica. Il suo sestetto non si adagia sulla lezione post-boppistica in stile Blue Note, con il consueto sound rovente ed incalzante. La Pintchik agisce sapientemente sulla tensione interna delle sue composizioni originali, imprimendo anche ai ritmi più sostenuti una raffinata sensibilità melodica. Quanto alle dinamiche di gruppo, il ruolo dei fiati non si esaurisce nell'alternanza fra enunciazione del tema e l'improvvisazione prevista dai canoni del mainstream.

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Album Review

Leslie Pintchik: In the Nature of Things

Read "In the Nature of Things" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger


Leslie Pintchik begins her explorations on her fourth CD with a musical sunrise of soft, shimmering colors that grows into a bright and energetic day. From this appealing opener, “With You in Mind," she instantly distinguishes herself from the legions of jazz composers who confuse “personal expression" with self-indulgent noodling that shows little concern for story or melody. In contrast, Pintchik composes memorable tunes that tell a coherent tale: here, the story is usually light-spirited and swinging, with flashes of ...

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Website

All About Jazz Top 10 Tracks: March 2018

All About Jazz Top 10 Tracks: March 2018

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz features a free song every day spanning all genres of jazz, and of the 30 tracks featured in March, these ten represent our personal favorites. We also included the top ten reader favorites as indicated by total. Musicians and record labels can submit full length MP3s for consideration hereEDITOR'S PICKS You Eat My Food, You Drink My Win, You Steal My Girl! Leslie Pintchik From: You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, ...

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Recording

Leslie Pintchik: Eat, Drink, Steal

Leslie Pintchik: Eat, Drink, Steal

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Sophistication is widely admired but little understood. There's no secret formula for creating something thought of as sophisticated nor are there any classes that teach it. Sophistication is simply a higher level of caring and soulfulness that comes from the heart, not the mind. Complexity is often mistaken for being sophisticated. In truth, complexity is almost always long-winded, overly rendered, difficult to understand and boring. A jazz musician either gets this distinction or doesn't. Pianist Leslie Pintchik gets it. As ...

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Recording

One Track Mind: Leslie Pintchik "Blowin' in the Wind" (2010)

One Track Mind: Leslie Pintchik "Blowin' in the Wind" (2010)

Source: Something Else!

By Pico Bob Dylan is a towering figure in folk, and as we were reminded a few days ago, his legacy extends deep into rock music, too, via the all the strong and memorable covers done by rock bands, especially The Byrds. What's more interesting is that Dylan's reach also extends to music forms that have little or no commonality with folk, like straight jazz. I'm reminded of the universal appeal of Dylan songs by this brand new CD by ...

"Leslie Pintchik and Scott Hardy play miraculous music - in tune in all ways. And you can quote me on that." —Red Mitchell

"I love the CD. The very first sound kept my attention All the Way. I loved the tunes and I loved the playing." —Jim Hall (about an earlier demo CD entitled Completely)

"Pianist Leslie Pintchik’s playing urges the same kind of reflection in her listeners that she uses to make things sparkle. Just check the reserved but gorgeous version of 'Happy Days Are Here Again' on her new album, Quartets." —Timeout NY

"... an adept interpreter of American Songbook classics and a composer of beautifully melodic tunes... " "...an unabashed search for beauty." —AllAboutJazz.com (review of Quartets by Dan McClenaghan)

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

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Self Produced
2019

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You Eat My Food, You...

Pintch Hard Records
2018

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True North

Pintch Hard Records
2016

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In the Nature of...

Pintch Hard Records
2014

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We're Here To Listen

Pintch Hard Records
2011

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Live in Concert...

Pintch Hard Records
2010

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You Eat My Food, You Drink My Wine, You Steal My Girl!

From: You Eat My Food, You Drink My...
By Leslie Pintchik

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