In case you miss it, 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 photo taken by the war photographer Joseph Eid. In it, a man smoking a pipe in Aleppo, Syria sits in his bombed-out bedroom, listening to music on a manual gramophone that operates without electricity. A tragic image of war, yes, but one that Eid said ‘talks about life’ as well.”

When she listened in the studio to the playback of “Prayer for What Remains,” Pintchik says she was especially moved by the performance of the musicians who played “so true to the tune’s emotional core.” And she adds, “A special shout-out to Steve Wilson for the tenderness with which he played the counter-melody, and for the passionate restraint and beauty of his solo.”

Pintchik’s new recording, which releases on September 13th, 2024, showcases her gifts as pianist, composer and arranger, and features eight of her original tunes, along with a cover of Joni Mitchell, and one from the Beatles.

As on her previous albums, Pintchik performs with a touch both delicate and robust: caressing ballads like “Private Moment,” digging into hard-edged funk on “Just Sayin’” and “Request Denied!”, and swinging with effervescence on “Over Easy,” all while enjoying exceptional support from her long-time bandmates, bassist Scott Hardy and drummer Michael Sarin, and close collaborators Satoshi Takeishi on percussion and special guest Steve Wilson on saxophone.

1) Prayer for What Remains (4:38)
2) Later Than We Thought (5:12)
3) Request Denied! (3:51)
4) Private Moment (5:04)
5) Over Easy (6:02)
6) I Will (4:44) (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)
7) Banquet (5:28) (Joni Mitchell)
8) Open Secret (3:51)
9) Grief (4:14)
10) Just Sayin’ (live) (4:54)

This wonderfully-crafted new recording opens on the dulcet, reflective title track Prayer for What Remains and a subtle Brazilian-based groove that dutifully flows through Later Than We Thought, and then we get the joyfully funk-imbibed Request Denied!, the beautifully languishing ballad Private Moment, and then comes the playfully flirtatious Over Easy.

Along next is a pure, understated gossamer that free flows through the reconstructed Beatles track from 1968, I Will and a rather resplendent rendition of Joni Mitchell’s 1972 track Banquet, and they are in turn backed by the samba-based groove that drives Open Secret, the album rounding out on the all-embracing ballad Grief, closing on a scintillatingly funky live version of Just Sayin’ (recorded at NYC’s Jazz at Kitano).

In his liner notes for the album, Allen Morrison 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 chatting with a dear, clever, complicated friend.”

About Pintchik’s bandmates, he says, “The telepathy that the trio achieves on this record is something possible only after many years of close collaboration. The same uncanny synergy and creativity can be heard with the addition of Satoshi Takeishi and Wilson.”

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