John Waters, Bobby Rydell, Donovan, Buckets Blake, Denny Zeitlin, Teri Roiger and more

At JazzWax this weekend, John Waters, Bobby Rydell, Donovan, Buckets Blake, Denny Zeitlin, Teri Roiger and more... https://t.co/lsJepKBlAP pic.twitter.com/lHav6PaOKZ

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) April 15, 2017

Pete Rugolo, Denny Zeitlin, Hampton Hawes, ...

This weekend at JazzWax, Pete Rugolo, Denny Zeitlin, Hampton Hawes, Shelly Manne, Jimmy Smith and more... https://t.co/IyVFTiXNHK pic.twitter.com/hHGiSMMlpp

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) 8 de abril de 2017

Denny Zeitlin

Denny Zeitlin: Early Wayne: Explorations of Classic Wayne Shorter Compositions https://t.co/g00U0IcTM3 #Jazzigator.com

— Jazzigator (@Jazzigator) July 13, 2016

Denny Zeitlin: Early Wayne

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

One of my favorite new jazz piano albums so far this year is Denny Zeitlin's Early Wayne—featuring Denny's solo impressions of Wayne Shorter compositions. Denny's approach on the album is tremendously exciting and free-spirited. He covers Shorter's works with a range of interpretive attacks without losing the saxophonist's glimmering sensitivity. In Denny's hands, Shorter's music comes rushing at you like a team of horses. The thundering energy closes in on you, and the pounding rhythmic feel continues to churn on the back end until they all pass. In this regard, Denny's piano impressions are exhilarating.

Early Wayne was recorded before a live audience in December 2014 at the Piedmont Piano Company (above)—a Mercedes-Benz dealership of a piano emporium in Oakland, Calif., that provides top-notch instruments worldwide. The pianists on the calendar of Piedmont's upcoming in-store concerts is enough to get one to buy a round-trip ticket to San Francisco. On the new album, the acoustics of the concert space provide Denny's playing and Wayne's compositions with rich, dimensional fidelity. You feel as if you're seated on the piano bench.

All of the compositions on the album were recorded by Shorter in the 1960s, with the exception of Ana Maria, which Shorter recorded on Native Dancer in 1974. The song choices and their order are perfect: Speak No Evil, Nefertiti, Ju Ju, Teru, Toy Tune, Infant Eyes, Paraphernalia, Ana Maria, E.S.P. and Miyako.

As Denny points out in his brief liner notes, Shorter's music has been an inspiration since 1959, when Denny was a junior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Back then, in the evenings, he played locally with Ira Sullivan, Wes Montgomery, Joe Farrell and many other jazz giants. Billy Taylor became a fan and mentor as did George Russell, and Bill Evans regularly performed and recorded Denny's composition Quiet Now. [Photo above of Wayne Shorter during a rehearsal for his Night Dreamer album in 1964 by Francis Wolff] 

On Early Wayne, we hear Denny's passion for the music as he digs deeper and deeper on songs. What I love most is how Denny reconstructs Shorter's stormy and tender themes, launching waves of explorations that find new ground while remaining simpatico with Shorter's own vision. Early Wayne is a concept album meant to be heard from start to finish. In this regard, songs function as chapters of an engaging Shorter biography. Bravo Denny! [Photo above of the Denny Zeitlin Trio in 1964; from left, bassist Cecil McBee, Denny and drummer Freddie Waits]

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Denny Zeitlin's Early Wayne(Sunnyside) here.

JazzWax interview: For my four-part JazzWax interview with Denny in 2009, go here. This will bring you to Part 1. The additional segments can be accessed by going to the top, above the red date, and clicking on the next part.

JazzWax clip: Here's Denny on Early Wayne playing Infant Eyes...

Infant Eyes

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Denny Zeitlin: "The Two Track Mind" by Grover Sales

Steven A. Cerra
I’m never certain as to why I get into a listening mode that focuses on the music of one musician, but I often do and lately the center of my undivided attention has been the music of pianist Denny Zeitlin.

 What I like best about Denny’s approach to Jazz is that I know he’s always going to give me an honest rendering; his compositions and improvisations are unmistakably his own. Cue Magazine [circa 1965] even went so far as to say that “Denny Zeitlin was the most inventive pianist in at least two decades.”

 Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Earl Fatha Hines, Teddy Wilson, Bud Powell, Nat King Cole, George Shearing Lennie Tristano, Oscar Peterson, as well as, Denny’s contemporaries including Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea, all have an instantly recognizable “voice” on an instrument that’s not known for its individuality of expression.

 And yet, it doesn’t take long before Denny’s unique style to manifest itself. He’s such an honest player who rarely falls back on licks and tricks and hardly ever repeats himself.

 I’ve been listening to Denny’s music for a long time, having first become familiar with his work through three recordings that he recorded for Columbia in the mid-1960s under John Hammond’s supervision: Cathexis, Carnival, and Zeitgeist. Another of my favorite recordings by Denny on Columbia from the same period is Shining Hour: Denny Zeitlin Live at The Trident [a Jazz club that was based in Sausalito, CA just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco]. It was recorded in performance at the club in 1965.

 Bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Jerry Granelli join Denny on most of these recordings with bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Freddie Waits accompanying him on Cathexis.

 While researching a lengthier profile on Denny that encompasses  his 50+ year career in the music, I came across the following piece by the eminent Jazz scholar and author Grover Sales which appeared in the May 1986 edition of Gene Lees Jazzletter.

 While I continue my research into the ever-evolving music of Denny Zeitlin so as to do it justice from a career perspective, I think you’ll be in good hands with Grover in the meantime.

read more: http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com.br/2015/07/denny-zeitlin-two-track-mind-by-grover.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+JazzProfiles+(Jazz+Profiles)

The Double Life of Denny Zeitlin

By Mark Keresman
Many musicians have their hands more than full balancing a career with what's known as a life, but jazz pianist Denny Zeitlin has had two careers to go along with being happily married for 44 years. He has a psychiatry practice in San Francisco and Kentfield and is a clinical professor of psychiatry at UCSF.

And as a pianist and composer, Zeitlin has made more than 35 albums; played with such heavyweights as Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, and David Grisman; contributed music to Sesame Street; and scored the 1978 remake of the iconic science-fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Yet after fifty years of recording and touring the world, at a point where many musicians would be content to remain comfortably in their niche, Zeitlin is still exploring new areas of expression.

As it is with most jazz musicians — and with most great musicians, in general — Zeitlin was a product of his time. "[He] assimilated the breakthroughs of the previous decade, from the impressionism of Bill Evans to the free-fall explorations of Ornette Coleman, and blended them into a personal style that anticipated the next fifteen years of keyboard advances," wrote jazz historian Ted Gioia in a review on Jazz.com.

In some ways, Zeitlin presaged the protean style of Keith Jarrett, waxing rhapsodic and engagingly melodious while embracing elasticity and a powerful impetus. Unlike Jarrett, he enthusiastically embraced electronics along with acoustic music-making: Along with Sun Ra and Burton Greene, Zeitlin was one of the first jazz players to explore synthesizers. Further, in the Sixties, while many jazz musicians regarded rock music as inferior or The Enemy, Zeitlin saw it as inspiration.

For more than a decade he's maintained a steady, hard-swinging (acoustic) trio with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson. After a lengthy hiatus, this year Zeitlin released an album, Both/And, which combined both electronic and acoustic sounds.
Read more: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/the-double-life-of-denny-zeitlin/Content?oid=3776540

Interview: Denny Zeitlin on Both/And

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s earliest recordings date back to the early and mid-1960s, when he recorded with Jeremy Steig (Flute Fever in 1963) and led his own trio (Cathexis, Carnival, Shining Hour and Zeitgeist). Denny’s approach has always been a masterful synthesis of technique and “brain freedom”—the suspension of pragmatism so that his spirit and hands can run the creative show. In most cases, his recorded adventures have been staged on an acoustic grand piano.

So imagine my surprise when I put on his new CD—Both/And: Solo Electro-Acoustic Adventures (Sunnyside). The album is a magnificent work that combines acoustic improvisation with densely layered electronica and sound sampling. What you hear is a sophisticated frenzy of jazz forms and computerized expressions that simultaneously astonish and tickle. Denny has always been an action pianist, but here he's operating on a much larger scale and in multiple dimensions—combining acoustic and electronic jazz keyboards with synth-symphonic surprises to produce an original work that's both chapel and cathedral.

What’s extraordinary is that Denny is playing and creating all of the sounds himself. At times it sounds as if there are dozens of musicians playing. As I’ve written in the past about Robert Glasper, RJ & the Assignment, José James and others, the future of jazz is incredibly exciting if you think in terms of digital collage and textures mingling with acoustic instruments. Denny’s work resides in the same neighborhood—where sound samples, software and instruments become electronic tubes of paint and the size and scope of what’s created is large, provocative and breathtaking. You have to hand it to Denny for continuing to let curiosity drive his explorations to the outer edges of the electronic jazz galaxy.

Last week, I spoke with Denny, 75, about his new album…


JazzWax: Your new album is such a radical departure from the acoustic recordings you’ve made in recent years. What was the motivation?
Denny Zeitlin: Even though I’ve been immersed in acoustic music over the past several decades, I've been keeping an eye and ear on developments in electronic music. Since 2000, there have been big technological improvements that make it possible for musicians to create multi-layered music in real time. You can draw on vastly improved and expanded sources of sound and more effortlessly record, edit and mix performances.


JW: Jazz meets Star Trek?
DZ: Almost. I found many of these technological improvements hard to resist, so I began to revisit electronic music—upgrading my studio to build on what I had created from 1968 to 1978, when I explored the electro-acoustic integration of jazz, classical, funk and the avant-garde.


JW: On your new CD, you perform all the sounds we hear, which is mind-blowing. How difficult was it to overdub all of that in the digital age compared with your earlier electronic, avant-garde works?
DZ: Expansion [1973] and Syzygy [1977] were recorded at 1750 Arch Records' studio in Berkeley, Calif. on an 8-track Ampex tape recorder. In addition to all my keyboards and synths, I had George Marsh on drums and percussion, and either Mel Graves or Ratzo Harris on acoustic and electric bass.


JW: Big difference then and now, yes?
DZ: Absolutely. Back then, finding space on tape for overdubbing after basic tracks were laid down was very challenging. The process often involved shared tracks and gymnastic moves to punch in and out to avoid erasing something crucial on the same track. Mixing also was arduous—frequently with three sets of hands on the console to make all the adjustments in real time. By the time of my electro-acoustic-symphonic score for the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), mixing consoles had some programmable features, and tape machines had 24 tracks, but the real leap forward was years down the road.


JW: And now?
DZ: The advent of digital audio recording software in the 1990s dramatically changed everything. I used Pro-Tools for Both/And and never ran into a significant problem of space or tracks for overdubbing. For example, there is a section of Monk-y Business Revisited that involves over 60 tracks playing simultaneously. Overdubbing is technically a breeze, and the possibilities of editing have vastly expanded. And automation is available for mixing, so the days of dancing around colleagues at the console are over.


JW: Did you have a complete vision of what you wanted to do on each track?
DZ: In some cases. For example, on Monk-y Business Revisited—which has numerous written sections and complex meticulous orchestration—improvisation remained the centerpiece, as it does throughout the whole album.


JW: And yet the electronic feel dominates.
DZ: Multiple keyboards trigger a host of sound sources, and an array of pedals alter these sounds, I felt like a galactic orchestra playing in real time.  For example, in the case of Meteorology, 90% of the piece emerged from a single free improvisation. In other instances, a seed for a new piece might emerge—from a programmatic idea or basic theme or a pattern, a collision of unusual textures, or a sound that grabbed me as I started to improvise. In this case, it’s a work in motion, collaging as I moved forward.


JW: It sounds like you’re applying paint to a canvas.
DZ: Yes, in some ways it was more like that process. Since I was free from the limitations of live concert performance, I had the opportunity to review, overdub, delete, add sections before and after, and gradually bring a finished "sound painting" to life.


JW: What other types of software did you use?
DZ: As I mentioned, Pro-Tools was my digital audio workstation. I also used DVZ Strings by Audio Impressions, a relative newcomer on the scene that’s magically powerful but complex and challenging to install, maintain and use with sophistication. I also used Omnisphere and Trilian from Spectrasonics, which provide high-quality software synths and huge libraries of sounds and sound-altering capabilities that are more user-friendly.  Sample libraries have greatly improved, and I used a number of them, including Vienna Symphony Orchestra and BFD.


JW: What about in the keyboard section?
DZ: I used a Yamaha S-90, which is an excellent hardware synth and keyboard trigger with an extensive sound library and breath control capability.  I love the keyboard feel, which is also present on the three Yamaha CP-33 keyboards I used to trigger the various synths and libraries.


JW: Were you inspired by other electronic artists for this project?
DZ: I wouldn’t say there were main inspirations. This project drew on all the important musical experiences of my life—the composers and performers, regardless of genre, who have touched me most deeply. I hoped my compositions and performances would emerge as a broad and deep exploration and integration of electro-acoustic possibilities. 


JW: How did the album make you feel emotionally?
DZ: With my focus on improvisation, I spent most of my time trusting that something meaningful would happen and trying to avoid conscious manipulation. I find this ecstatic state very precious. Then there were the many opportunities to play back the music and reflect.  I might feel something else was needed. It might be obvious, or require a musical search that could be tedious or exciting. And the search might lead to new ideas and a new piece.


JW: Did pieces turn out as you originally expected?
DZ: The process was mixed. Hearing a composition approach what I had in mind was exhilarating. Yet there were times when I would decide a whole section of music simply didn't make it and would have to be deleted. For me, the gamut of human emotions is expressed on this CD, and the act of mixing and mastering—though trying at times—infused me with these feelings as I attempted to maximize their communication. When I listen back, I find myself forgetting that I played all the parts.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Denny Zeitlin's Both/And (Sunnyside) here.

JazzWax clip: Here's Monk-Y Business Revisited: Intro and Main Themes, which is part of a brilliant original suite...

Monk-Y Business Revisited: Intro and Main Themes

- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/07/interview-denny-zeitlin-on-both-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.65xgoNdT.dpuf

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Denny Zeitlin turns the solo piano ....

From: Jazz Promo Services
www.jazzpromoservices.com
"Denny Zeitlin turns the solo piano world on its head with the most ambitious work of his storied career.  A stellar performance and unique hybrid that others have attempted but with nowhere near the harmonic wonders that Zeitlin creates here. 5 Stars [highest rating]"  Brent Black, www.criticaljazz.com

"Dr. Denny Zeitlin has made a career of creating a catalogue of some of the most imaginatively lyrical and sublime acoustic solo and trio sessions...This time around, the good doctor changes the prescription and treatment, mixing his signature sound with electronics...A fascinating experiment that succeeds thoroughly well on various fronts."  George Harris, www.jazzweekly.com

LAST CD's
July 2012 Release
Denny Zeitlin: Wherever You Are
A solo piano album of all one mood:
Ballads, gentle music, subtitled "Midnight Moods for Solo Piano".
Reviews-Audioclips-Video-Purchase
June, 2011 Release
Denny Zeitlin: Labyrinth
Like Precipice, solo piano concert music featuring American songbook and jazz standards, original compositions, and free improvisation.
Reviews-Audioclips-Video-Purchase

May, 2010 Release:
Denny Zeitlin: Precipice
Reviews-Audio Clips-Video-Purchase

February, 2009:
Denny Zeitlin celebrated his his 70th year with simultaneous releases spanning a 45 year recording career:

Denny Zeitlin - piano

"In concerts and in my previous albums, I have always programmed for variety. Yet for years I have wanted to record an album with one over-arching mood—a gentle, lyrical journey of mostly ballads. 
I've chosen songs that I've loved for years, encountering some of them here as a performer for the first time. My hope was to explore them as deeply, authentically, and spontaneously as possible—to share how the music and often exquisite lyrics of these songs have touched and intrigued me.

The pieces on this CD come mostly from the American Songbook, with a contribution from Jobim, and two originals. They all express a fundamental desire we share as humans: the yearning for an intimate connection. Some celebrate the rapture of love ""found."" Others explore the heartbreak of love ""lost.""

My hope is that you will be rewarded by deep listening to this album, and also find it a worthy companion to activities of daily life—a fine meal, perhaps; moments of contemplation; and most especially, being with someone you love."

Reviews:

Denny Zeitlin has balanced careers as a psychiatrist, medical school professor, and jazz pianist/composer since earning his MD at Johns Hopkins in 1964. Equally at home performing with his working trio and as a solo pianist, Zeitlin focuses on the latter in this striking session which he recorded himself in his home studio. His imaginative arrangements of the familiar standards that make up much of this collection put them into a new light, perfect for late-night listening with someone special. "Body and Soul" has been recorded so frequently in the decades since Coleman Hawkins' landmark 1939 record that it would seem that there is little left to explore within it, but Zeitlin's lush reharmonization reveals new glistening facets in this timeless gem. "Good-Bye," long associated with Benny Goodman as his sign-off theme, packs an even greater emotional punch with Zeitlin's deliberate, thoughtful setting. Jazz musicians have often turned the '40s ballad "I Hear a Rhapsody" into an uptempo swinger, though Zeitlin's introspective rubato treatment returns it to its romantic roots, seducing the listener with his lyrical playing. The pianist's fresh rendition of the poignant ballad "You Don't Know What Love Is" begins with him improvising on its bridge and slowly working his way into it, adding a subtle Latin undercurrent as he reharmonizes its familiar theme. Zeitlin also revisits two of his originals, the mysterious "Time Remembers One Time Once" and the richly textured "Wherever You Are." This compelling solo piano CD is destined to become one of Denny Zeitlin's landmark recordings.

- Ken Dryden - Allmusic.com

Jazz Musician of the Day: Denny Zeitlin

All About Jazz is celebrating Denny Zeitlin's birthday today!

Denny Zeitlin has recorded over thirty critically acclaimed albums; twice won first place in the Down Beat International Jazz Critics Poll; written original music for Sesame Street; and appeared on network TV, including repeats on the Tonight Show, and CBS Sunday Morning. Zeitlin’s lecture- demonstration “Unlocking the Creative Impulse: The Psychology of Improvisation” has been presented across the U.S. and in Europe... Read more. From: http://news.allaboutjazz.com/news.php?id=99301

Place our Musician of the Day widget on your website or blog.

Visit Website

Pianist and professor of clinical psychiatry Denny Zeitlin

On this week's Piano Jazz, pianist and professor of clinical psychiatry Denny Zeitlin visits the program with host Marian McPartland.

The California-based Zeitlin is a two-time winner of Down Beat polls, and has been a faculty member at the University of California in San Francisco since 1968. As a teen, Zeitlin played professionally around his hometown of Chicago, and by college he was playing with Wes Montgomery, Johnny Griffin and others. Bill Evans dug Zeitlin early on, and named his 1970 album Quiet Now after a Zeitlin composition. In this session, Zeitlin's tunes include standards, as well as tunes by Wayne Shorter and Ornette Coleman.

Zeitlin is quick to point out that his psychiatric work is not a means of supporting his piano playing; rather, his dual careers complement each other. He says he sees communication and empathy as vital to both. In his solo take on "Body and Soul," Zeitlin modulates between several keys, with a beautiful touch and cerebral improvisations reminiscent of Bill Evans. He takes the tune way out, but easily and elegantly returns to the melody, and follows up with his own shimmering "Cascade."

"You must really put in some practice time," McPartland says. "That piece is so dramatic, and there's a lot going on there. I'd hate to see that thing written down."

McPartland and Zeitlin get together for a duet on Ornette Coleman's playful, blues-based "Turnaround" — an angular but memorable tune. The two pianists refer to blues-based structure, but take advantage of open spaces to run the tune to the outfield. McPartland plays a solo version of her pensive tune, "Threnody," and Zeitlin returns for another duet: a complex yet delightful take on "All the Things You Are."

"I've been a big fan of Wayne Shorter for years," Zeitlin says. "It's funny: Every tune he writes has something unusual about it and is instantly identifiable as a Shorter tune." He proceeds with a blinding take on "E.S.P.," a tune recorded by Miles Davis' mid-'60s quintet with Shorter.

"I've got that Miles LP," McPartland says. "But hearing you play it, I can catch the melody much more clearly than when Miles and the guys did it." Zeitlin and McPartland perform two more duets to close this week's program. First, it's a relaxed interpretation of "Gone With the Wind," and a more swinging take on the lovely Tadd Dameron tune, "Ladybird."
"That was a good one!" McPartland exclaims.
"Yeah, that was fun," Zeitlin adds. "Let's do this again. At least three more times!"

Originally recorded Nov. 19, 1999. Originally broadcast Mar. 28, 2000.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127784786