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Denny Zeitlin: Live at Mezzrow
by Dan Bilawsky
Coming up on two decades of creative engagement and evolution, pianist Denny Zeitlin's group with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson remains one of the most bracing, sophisticated and creatively satisfying trios on the scene. In the best of times, a set like this, recorded live at Spike Wilner's New York piano room Mezzrow, can serve as a reminder of the virtues of camaraderie, depth of feeling, design strength and the art of living in the moment. Arriving at ...
Continue ReadingDenny Zeitlin: Remembering Miles
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Denny Zeitlin, pushing hard ahead in an extraordinary recording career that began in 1963 with a sideman job on Jeremy Steig's Flute Fever (Columbia Records), has settled artistically, fifty years on, into a pair welcoming homes: Sunnyside Records, for whom he has recorded ten superb albums, beginning with 2009's In Concert Featuring Buster Williams and Matt Wilson, and Oakland, California's Piedmont Piano Company, where he has taken up residence in recent years to present solo piano recitals focusing on ...
Continue ReadingDenny Zeitlin: Balancing Act
by Ken Dryden
Denny Zeitlin is a true Renaissance man with many interests, in addition to balancing his careers in medicine and music. Although his medical practice and teaching have limited his abilities to tour beyond brief trips east or playing near his home in California, he has recorded regularly in recent years, releasing a variety of projects for Sunnyside. Well known for his composition “Quiet Now," which was recorded numerous times by Bill Evans, Denny remains a dedicated composer in his quest ...
Continue ReadingDenny Zeitlin: Wishing On The Moon
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Denny Zeitlin claimed a spot as a top-tier jazz pianist at the very beginning of his recording career with a sideman slot on flutist Jeremy Steig's Flute Fever (Columbia, 1963), followed by his debut as a leader, Cathexis (Columbia, 1964). After three more excellent sets for Columbia, Zeitlin's career shifted into a smaller label mode, resulting in several high quality but under-recognized albums. Additionally, in 1978 he seized the opportunity to score the orchestral electro-acoustic avant-garde soundtrack to the ...
Continue ReadingDenny Zeitlin: Wishing On The Moon
by Dan Bilawsky
The title of the final cut on this live date--"Signs & Wonders," written by David Friesen--truly homes in on the truth about this trio. For in gestures large and small, guideposts laid out by form and instinct, a time-strengthened sense of equilateral idealism, and an open-minded aesthetic, this outfit continually creates music to marvel at. While pianist Denny Zeitlin, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Matt Wilson have been at it together for eighteen years, this set doesn't ...
Continue ReadingDenny Zeitlin, Buster Williams & Matt Wilson at Mezzrow Jazz Club
by Mike Jurkovic
Denny Zeitlin, Buster Williams, Matt Wilson Mezzrow Jazz Club New York, NY May 5, 2018 It was cramped on Cinco de Mayo in Mezzrow. Real cramped. Just as it should be for the last night of Denny Zeitlin's rare, four night residency. A West Coast resident, Zeitlin doesn't get out this way much, so when he does, the people respond, listen, and marvel. Denny Zeitlin may not be a name that rolls off ...
Continue ReadingWinter 2017
by Doug Collette
Jazz Journal is a regular column consisting of pithy takes on recent jazz releases of note as well as spotlights on those titles in the genre that might otherwise go unnoticed under the cultural radar. Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh Expedition: Duo Electro-Acoustic Improvisations Sunnyside2017 Because the multiplicity of drums and percussion instruments George Marsh uses on Expedition is comparable to the comparable array of acoustic and electric keyboards Denny Zeitlin utilizes, ...
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