Denny Zeitlin

The format of the piano-led trio experimented by Bill Evans was further explored by Chicago's white pianist Denny Zeitlin (1938) who relocated to San Francisco in 1964, on albums such as Cathexis (march 1964) for a trio, that set the theme for his research, Carnival (october 1964), for another trio (Charlie Haden on bass), and Zeitgeist (march 1967), for the same trio, that included the free-form Mirage. He was not afraid to tamper with dissonance and electronics, for example in the 14-minute El Fuego de las Montanas, off Expansion (1973), in the four-movement suite Syzygy, off Syzygy (1977) and in the melodramatic film soundtrack Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).

The Name Of This Terrain (november 1969) documents a studio session with Mel Graves (basses and synthesizer) and George Marsh (drums) which remained unreleased until 2022. Zeitlin played piano, clavinet, organ, synthesizer, melodica and sang.

A psychiatrist by profession, Zeitlin was pioneering a fusion of jazz, rock, classical and electronic music.

Zeitlin recorded the solo-piano albums Soundings (1978), Tidal Wave (january 1981), Homecoming (1986), Solo Voyage (november 2004), Precipice (january 2008).

Wishing On The Moon (march 2009) documents a live concert with Buster William (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums).

Denny Zeitlin also recorded the "solo electro-acoustic adventures" of Both/And (Sunnyside, 2013), containing the 23-minute Monk-Y Business Revisited (originally composed in 1989).

Riding the Moment (recorded in 2013 and 2014) and Expedition (recorded between 2015 and 2017) were electronic collaborations with drummer George Marsh.

Telepathy (recorded between 2014 and 2019) collects improvisations between Denny Zeitlin (piano, keyboards and synthesizer) and George Marsh (drums and percussion).

Panoply (Sunnyside, 2024) contains piano solos (december 2012), live trio performances (may 2019) with Buster Williams (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums), and two duets with drummer George Marsh (recorded in 2013 and 2023).