Denny Zeitlin: With a Song In My Heart: Exploring The Music of Richard Rodgers

Richard Rodgers' melodic genius has long been a favoured playground for jazz musicians, but few reimagine his work with the intellectual depth and intuitive poetry of pianist Denny Zeitlin. On With A Song In My Heart, Zeitlin offers a riveting solo piano exploration of eleven Rodgers classics, combining architectural reharmonization, rhythmic invention and unflinching emotional insight. This is not mere homage; it is a deeply personal conversation with one of the 20th century's great composers.

The first half of the program was recorded live at the Piedmont Piano Company on December 13, 2019, while the other half was recorded at Zeitlin's Double Helix Studio at his home, during sessions in November and December of the same year. The album opens with "Falling In Love with Love," where Zeitlin sets the tone. The familiar melody is laid atop a shifting rhythmic canvas and a series of harmonic modulations. The result is exhilarating, a kind of dance between reverence and reinvention. "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" is presented in an intriguing 7/4 time signature, stretching the time with his masterful touch. The result is an interpretation with unmistakable harmonic language, probing, elastic and modern. The little heard "He Was Too Good To Me" was unknown to Zeitlin, and he found a rich emotional vein in it. The performance has a beauty where each note feels considered and flows with organic ease.

One of Frank Sinatra's favourite Rodgers pieces is "Wait Till You See Her," which Zeitlin reconstructs as a waltz with a dream-like sensibility. He abstracts the melody almost to the vanishing point, then threads it back through a series of motif-driven improvisations. The result is a meditation more than a performance. The first of the studio recordings is "This Nearly Was Mine." The number reflects Zeitlin's sense of drama with a spare, almost stark opening. The number gradually unfolds as Zeitlin runs through his impassioned improvisations, creating an arc that captures both resignation and grandeur.

"Have You Met Miss Jones" was written for the 1937 musical comedy "I'd Rather Be Right," with Lorenz Hart providing the lyrics to Rodgers' music. Here, Zeitlin plays with meter and phrasing, stretching the song's harmonic backbone into unexpected places. Listen to him tease out fragments of stride and swing as winks to tradition. The closer is the title track, "With a Song In My Heart," and it is delivered with an uplift. Zeitlin's treatment is buoyant, hopeful and rhythmically supple. The album is a triumph of imagination and craft as Zeitlin does not simply interpret Rodgers but illuminates him.

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