(abstract from an interview:)
Denny Zeitlin: “In order to maintain two careers, I have had to focus on
what is at the “heart” of each field for me. In psychiatry, it is treating
patients and teaching residents. In music, it is playing the piano each day,
composing, recording, and an amount of international touring that does not
interfere with my psychiatric responsibilities. Both fields involve deep
communication, and when I am at my best, a kind of “merger” with my patients, or
the music and musicians I am playing with.”
in this video (there are many most interesting videos on his web site!)
Denny explains the "unlocking of the creative impulse"...
"The Herald"
an improvised Piano Solo by Denny Zeitlin
WineDoc
Exploring the wine cellar of an ancient Riviera restaurant
'47 great growth claret dinner at our home - '70s
I feel very fortunate to have been able to taste so many legendary wines
over the years. The ’47 Cheval Blanc is perhaps the most famous claret of
the 20th century, and it has been fabulous any time I’ve been lucky enough
to run into it. But on this night, the ’47 Petrus was it’s equal—two
unearthly and monumental wines. La Mission Haut-Brion was not far behind,
but Haut-Brion and Lafite were sorely outclassed in that fabled vintage.
MountainBikeDoc
DZ riding Slickrock—Moab, Utah
Cheval Blanc vertical at George Wein's Riviera home
In July, 1989, my trio was touring Europe under the aegis of George Wein’s
Festival Productions. George is a long-time collector, and knowing of my
passion for wine, he served a magnificent dinner with a vertical of Ch.
Cheval Blanc going back to the glorious ’49.
StudioDoc
Denny is working on his CD productions in his own studio...
FlyFishingDoc
Bonefish - coming in - Andros Island, Bahamas
His web site is very rich of multi-medial material, it is a
must to visit it and watch videos, listen to sound samples and order
his CDs directly online:
ANNOUNCING THE SIMULTANEOUS FEBRUARY
RELEASE OF TWO CD PROJECTS:
1) Denny Zeitlin Trio In Concert Featuring Buster Williams & Matt Wilson
(Sunnyside---1CD)
2) Denny Zeitlin: The Columbia Studio Trio Sessions (Mosaic Select---3CDs)
UPCOMING PERFORMANCE:
Denny Zeitlin Trio Featuring Buster Williams & Matt Wilson
Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Lincoln Center, B'way at 60th St., 5th Floor
Tuesday & Wednesday, March 10 & 11
Reservations 212 258 9595 or 9795
Sets at 7:30 and 9:30
It is a special pleasure for me, in the year of my 70th
birthday, to have two CD releases that span 45 years of recording. Both these
projects are close to my heart, and here are their stories:
Denny Zeitlin Trio in Concert Featuring Buster Williams & Matt Wilson
(Sunnyside)
Although I have performed extensively as a soloist, and in duos, I’ve
been involved in trio performance since I began to play jazz in high school. I
was powerfully attracted to the combination of piano, bass, and drums, and have
recorded most frequently in this format. The piano, a “string-cussion”
instrument, has an affinity for both bass and drums, and together they ideally
create an equilateral triangle of great flexibility, mutuality, and stability. I’ve always been fortunate to find wonderful trio musicians. In my recording
debut in the sixties, I made a series of LPs for Columbia (re-issued on CDs by
Mosaic Records--see below), with a succession of great bassists (Cecil McBee,
Charlie Haden, and Joe Halpin) and drummers ( Freddie Waits, Jerry Granelli, and
Oliver Johnson.) I spent the next decade developing a multiple keyboard
electronic-acoustic integration of jazz, rock, classical, and avant-garde music
with George Marsh on drums, and Mel Graves or Ratso Harris on bass. In the
eighties and nineties, I returned to a focus on acoustic music, and recorded and
performed often with Peter Donald on drums, and a number of marvelous bassists,
including Charlie Haden, John Patitucci, and Joel DiBartolo and Tom Warrington.
In 1998, I received a call from Todd Barkan, inviting me to record a CD for
Japan’s Venus label. He was open to my choice of personnel, so it seemed like a
great opportunity to finally do some playing with Buster Williams, a bassist I
had admired since 1969 when I heard his introduction on Herbie Hancock’s “I Have
a Dream.” I got the superb Al Foster to join us, and the resulting CD “ As Long
As There’s Music,” remains one of my favorites.
So, when I was organizing a West Coast tour in 2001, Buster was the natural
choice, and was available, but Al was not. I asked around, and a friend with
ears I trust urged me to try to get Matt Wilson. I listened to some audioclips
on the internet, and it was immediately clear that this guy could really play.
And it turned out that he had been a fan of Buster’s and my music, and was
delighted to join the tour.
I had the opportunity to go over the material with each separately, but the
first time the three of us actually played together was on stage at the San
Francisco Jazz Festival. From the first note, there was excitement, a
tremendous groove, mutual respect and collaboration, and an eagerness to explore
new territory.
Over the past seven years we have performed at major festivals, jazz clubs, and
concert venues. I have treasured the opportunity to work with Buster and Matt,
and each time, even if it has been months since we last played, the music just
takes off, and we again find ourselves bringing out the best in each other.
Both Buster and Matt are at the pinnacle of their instruments in every respect.
I find it wonderfully easy to lose myself, and often feel totally merged with
the music, unaware of where specific sounds are coming from. I believe this CD
showcases our best work.
The late critic Whitney Balliett called jazz the “sound of surprise.” I hope
you will find lots of surprise and engagement in these live performances,
recorded in two of my favorite venues: The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, and The
Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque.
Denny Zeitlin: The Columbia Studio Trio Sessions (Mosaic
Select)
In November, 2007, Ted Gioia, the highly respected jazz writer and
critic, wrote in the online jazz magazine
www.jazz.com :
“The Denny Zeitlin trio was one of the most important jazz combos from the
1960s…Zeitlin had 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 15 years of
keyboard advances. He stood out in the crowd for the unbridled creativity of
his work, the richness of his harmonic palate, and the sheer beauty of his piano
tone…Will somebody open up the vault and let the music out? Fans who seek out
these rarities will be rewarded with piano trio music of the highest level.”
But a month before Gioia’s remarks, I was excited to hear from producer Richard
Seidel that he had been in deep exploration of the Columbia vaults and shared
his findings with Michael Cuscuna of Mosaic Records. Richard and Michael agreed
that my body of work had historical and aesthetic importance, and wanted to
re-issue the Columbia trio studio sessions. I was pleased that the many people
over the years who had inquired about CD re-issues would finally be able to get
them all in one package.
In May, 2008, I flew to New York City to spend a week-end with Michael and
Richard at Mark Wilder’s mastering studio. Mark is a world-class engineer with a
mind-boggling list of credits. I had never before fully realized the sonic
sacrifices that are made when pressing a vinyl disc. We were able, using today’s
technology, to go back to the original multi-track tapes and mix, master, and
transfer to the digital domain, vastly improving the fidelity. I was relieved to
experience the music as still fresh, exciting, deep, and exploratory. Immersed
in sound in Mark’s state-of-the-art studio, I was plunged into memories.
In 1960 I went out to Baltimore to begin medical training at Johns Hopkins
University. I was thrilled to have been accepted to such a great school, and
hoped that I would be as lucky as I had been in college and high school in
finding musicians to play with.
It turned out that Gary Bartz had a steady gig at the North End Lounge, a jazz
club owned by his father, and I was able to go and sit in late at night after I
finished my studies. Gary was in his late teens at that time, and it was before
he had begun to record. But already he was sounding marvelous, bringing together
elements of both Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. He and the other musicians
were very welcoming and I spent many wonderful evenings there over the course of
my four years at Johns Hopkins.
Among the many fine musicians, Billy Hart was frequently there on drums, and at
that time seriously considering a career in mechanical engineering. For a while
Grachan Moncur, III was playing trombone. Medical school was fascinating but
extremely demanding and in the late evening after studying for five or six
hours, to be able to go and play was wonderfully balancing. I was also fortunate
that the medical residence hall in which I was staying had an excellent seven
foot Steinway in its entry room. I would grab a few minutes whenever I could
between classes and labs.
In 1963, in my third year in medical school, I obtained a 10 week fellowship to
Columbia University in psychiatry. I rented an apartment on the west side on
72nd St., and hoped to get an idea of what it might be like to live and work in
New York City.
I studied and hung out with George Russell during that period which was one of
the pivotal galvanizing musical experiences of my life. As a
theorist-composer-arranger, George has had enormous influence on the history of
jazz. His belief and encouragement of my music is something that I will always
cherish.
It was during that fellowship that my friend Paul Winter, another big supporter,
dragged me reluctantly to meet his producer, the legendary John Hammond at
Columbia Records. At that point I didn't have aspirations to record; I was
resonating with the bitter and cynical remarks many fellow musicians made about
the recording scene, and didn't wish to risk a record label telling me what to
play.
But John Hammond turned out to be extremely enthusiastic about jazz in general
and my music in particular, and immediately offered me a contract with Columbia
for a multi-record deal in which I would have carte blanche to record with
whomever I wanted and to play whatever I chose. This was too good to pass up.
My first recording experience was as a featured pianist on Jeremy Steig's album
"Flute Fever." Ben Riley was on drums and Ben Tucker on bass. I met with Jeremy
briefly before the recording and we discussed and tried out some tunes, but
essentially this was a blowing date on a weekend. The album had plenty of fire,
the chemistry among the four of us was terrific, and everyone played his ass
off. It was a great thrill to record in Columbia’s 30th Street studio; I could
feel the echoes of decades of great jazz and classical recording sessions. I
was thrilled that Billy Taylor, who had encouraged my music since I was a
teen-ager, loved this album.
In the winter of 1964 I was back at 30th Street, recording my first
album as a leader: “Cathexis,” with Cecil McBee on bass, and Freddie Waits on
drums. They had been playing together in Paul Winter’s consort, and had great
rapport. And they were both wide open to what I was trying to do. We immediately
clicked as a trio, and the album was recorded in just a few days.
“Cathexis” was my first opportunity to present some of my own compositions, as
well as my approach to reharmonizing and reworking jazz and American songbook
standards. It was particularly gratifying to record my composition, “Blue
Phoenix”, a 15 minute exploration of the legend from Egyptian mythology, in one
take.
I remember bringing the finished LP over to Bill Evans’ apartment for his
critique. I felt emboldened to call him, since he had mentioned my “great”
playing on “Flute Fever” in a Downbeat Blindfold Test. He loved the trio album,
and encouraged me to “keep doing my own thing.” In this early phase of my
recording career, the encouragement of people like Billy Taylor, George Russell,
and Bill Evans was tremendously inspiring.
The release of “Cathexis” and the subsequent Columbia LPs opened many doors,
including network TV and repeat spots on the Tonight Show, appearances at
colleges and major festivals, and recognition from the international press.
But shortly after the release of this first trio album, I had left the east
coast, and was up to my neck in a rough-and-tumble rotating internship at San
Francisco General Hospital, never getting a chance to perform or tour with
Freddie and Cecil. It took some reconnaissance and hospital logistics, but I
managed to team up with Jerry Granelli, a sensitive and innovative local
drummer, and bassist Charlie Haden, whose great sound, time feeling, and
harmonic anticipation I had admired in his work with Ornette Coleman.
We began playing steadily on Monday nights at the Trident in Sausalito and
concertizing along the West Coast, and this lead to “Carnival” in ’64, “Live at
the Trident” in ’65, and one-half of “Zeitgeist” in ’66. With Jerry and Charlie,
I continued to explore my interest in extended compositions, unusual time
signatures, reworking of standards, “free” improvisation, and the challenges of
trio interplay.
Charlie left for NYC in ’66, and Jerry became involved in other musical
interests. I formed a new trio with the fiery Oliver Johnson on drums, and
virtuosic Joe Halpin on bass. We continued to play the Trident, and tour the
West Coast, weaving concerts into the fabric of my life as a psychiatric
resident. We finished the other half of “Zeitgeist,” and that LP was released in
‘67.
These Columbia years provided a marvelous platform for me to develop and express
myself musically. I’ll always be grateful to John Hammond for his faith and
encouragement. He was true to his word of giving me full control over the music
and the musicians, was unflappable in the studio, and opened doors for me from
his personal contacts.
As the remastering week-end progressed, and I was flooded with these early
memories, I reflected on how fortunate I was in the year of my seventieth
birthday to be able to re-visit myself almost 45 years ago, and help make this
music available again. And fortunate indeed to have been able throughout these
years to continue to evolve in my dual passions of music and psychiatry, each
activity energizing the other.
There is an extra hour of “Bonus Tracks” in this 3 CD package. I hadn’t
remembered how many album--worthy never--released compositions had been left in
the Columbia vaults because of LP space limitations. Re-visiting this music was
one of the great pleasures of this project.
Trio performance with Buster and Matt at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Lincoln
Center, NYC: Tues and Wed, Mar. 10 & 11 (see top of page)
"San Francisco Legends": Solo piano on a double-bill with the John Handy Group,
Healdsburg Jazz Festival, June 5, Healdsburg, CA
Plans in the works for performances in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, and
Europe
Past Activities
If you are interested in musical activities over the past several
years, check out the NEWS section of my website, which goes back to September,
2005. You can easily scroll down to wherever you like. For instance, over the
past couple years there have been some interesting events, including: several
features; an unusual experience as a judge; some nostalgic returns to home
territory; solo and trio performances in settings ranging from salon to concert
hall; the collapse of IAJE; the tragic death of bassist-educator Mel Graves; and
a sublime encounter with singer Kate McGarry. Here is the link to the NEWS
section:
http://www.dennyzeitlin.com/DZ_News.php
I send you all best wishes and thanks for the support of my
music. Please forward this announcement to anyone who may be interested...
Denny Zeitlin
Please send us your contributions about your extra-medical
profession or hobby!
