Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh: Expedition
Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh: Expedition
ByZeitlin and Marsh have a long history togetherthe drummer was the linchpin in the pianist's broad-minded electro-acoustic trio that formed nearly half a century ago and they rekindled their musical relationship by creating this exploratory duo back in 2013but that history doesn't bog down their work with sentiment or result in any "been there, done that" designs. It's always a new ballgame and a blank canvas for these two.
It wouldn't be unfair to say that Expedition operates on the same platform as this pair's previous statementRiding The Moment (Sunnyside Records, 2015). It's the absolute truth. Both duo dates look at free expression in a hybridized realm and each presents music that was essentially created in real time with few overdubs. This is most certainly a continuation statement, but that shouldn't imply that there's any retracing of steps. All twenty-five tracks spread across the two records are marked by an independence of thought and direction.
While the scent of freedom carries on the air across this entire album, the music is rarely formless. It grooves, breathes, flows, and evolves in kaleidoscopic fashion, taking and/or changing shape through a near-telepathic process. Entire tracksor "sound paintings," if we're going with the Zeitlin-Marsh vernacularoften possess a magnetic draw born of language and development. Such is the case with "Traffic," for example. It's a construct that springs from a nervous sixteenth note motif, lands in a swinging realm where a somewhat icy synth and acoustic piano become fast friends while Marsh lays it down on his ride, and finally trails off into the sunset as a soundscape free of constraints and full of uncertainty. It's five minutes worth following and one example of how this pair guides the music into different areas without ever forcing it.
Each journey has something special to offer in its entirety, but that's only one way of taking this music in. Bathing in individual moments or single aspects of a performancethe marriage of trumpet-ish synth, funky bass lines, and driving cymbal on "Shards Of Blue"; the playful points that produce "Lives Of Clowns"; the fusion-ish groove that carries "Shooting The Rapids"is just as rewarding. Either way that you slice it, it's something special. There are some minor drawbacks heresome of the synth sounds are a tad dated, the music occasionally wants for more urgencybut they don't have a major impact on the end result. Any opportunity to hear Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh take us into the great unknown is an opportunity worth taking.
Track Listing
Geysers; Thorns Of Life; Traffic; Shards Of Blue; Lives Of Clowns; Spiral Nebula; Shooting The Rapids; One Song; Sentinel; Watch Where You Step; Not Lost In The Shuffle; The Hunt; Expedition.
Personnel
Denny Zeitlin
pianoDenny Zeitlin: acoustic piano, hardware and virtual synthesizers, keyboards; George Marsh: drums, percussion.
Album information
Title: Expedition | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Sunnyside Records