New York City, June 2004 - Jazz pianist and composer Leslie Pintchik's CD So Glad to Be Here is released by Ambient Records. Sony's Direct Stream Digital (DSD) recording technology captures the subtle shadings of Leslie's piano playing, the singing quality of Scott Hardy's bass and the extraordinary colors and textures of percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. The Music-Warmth, humor and mystery flavor this mix of original compositions and jazz standards, in a recording that features rich group interplay and lean textures. Pianist Leslie Pintchik and bassist Scott Hardy have a musical partnership that spans two decades, and together they have built a library of rich original material. The legendary bassist Red Mitchell - with whom they worked at Bradley's in Manhattan - called their music "miraculous... in tune in all ways." On So Glad to Be Here, Leslie and Scott are joined by percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, whose highly unusual kit (which includes hand drums, bells, cymbals, etc.) adds a dramatic array of colors to the music. In the liner notes for the CD, James Gavin wrote "Whether composing or playing, she favors delicacy and thoughtfulness over grandstanding, color over volume, spaciousness over clutter.... So Glad to Be Here, her debut CD, offers a wonderfully intimate hour of jazz, created with the help of two musicians - bassist Scott Hardy and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi - whose work is as graceful and lyrical as Leslie's... (an) album of jazz that speaks to the mind as well as the heart." The Technology-A Substantial Jump Over PCM Direct Stream Digital, the technology behind the Super Audio CD, represents a significant leap over PCM, the current CD standard. The DSD system uses a 1-bit delta-sigma modulated word, sampled at 2.8224 MHz - that's more than 2 million 800 thousand samples per second. It is a much simpler analog to digital and digital to analog conversion process than PCM and therefore is really more analog-like in sound. These new Super Audio CD's are available in two versions according to Mark Conese. A "hybrid" version that contains two signal layers - one for CD and one for Super Audio CD. They are playable on all CD players including the new Super Audio CD (SACD) playback equipment, and a single layer Super Audio CD playable only on SACD players. Both types of disc are capable of two-channel stereo and six-channel surround on the SACD layer. At Ambient Records we have chosen to go exclusively with the hybrid version due to it's backward compatibility with existing CD players. Although we do recommend to anyone interested in the best sound quality to invest in a Super Audio CD player to hear the full potential of these recordings.