Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner - Non Classical Denny Zeitlin

Great player, great trio, though rather obscure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=017pMg2Sxo4

His hand is larger then his head. Great playing. He sits really low.

He's a good player and proud as a peacock. I get tired of his tinkering.

Nice playing. Sorta reminds me of Bill Evans playing a bit.

66.7% Bill Evans + 33.3% Keith Jarrett = Dennie Zeitlin, although IMO, Zeitlin may have influenced Jarrett rather than the other way around.

I would rather listen to this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Z5ll568M0

i absolutely love michel petrucciani! his touch and time are impeccable.

he's one of my personal favorites.

enjoyed the zeitlin clip.

i like the way he plays the head of the tune, and the choice of voicings. the blowing is great too and interesting.

Zeitlin has been on the cusp of widepsread mainstream jazz fame since I first heard him 40 years ago! By widespread fame, I mean, Chick, Herbie, McCoy, Keith, etc., etc., first name is enough type of fame. He has all the tools, plays beautifully, improvises "instant compositions", and he has a unique voice, whether in combos or solo, just like the above mentioned, et.al., and yet, painfully few know of his work or aspire to study and incorporate elements of his style into their own, as they do with other players.
Always puzzled me.

yeah, denny plays great. i think he should be more well known.

i've known about him for years--as the composer of quiet now, and as a pianist who became a doctor. he was also a buddy of bill evans, i believe. just never really checked him out that closely. i didn't realize that his playing was as heavy as it is.

i've got to find more of his stuff.

Zeitlin's style is unusual in that he uses pedal during solos. When I saw him last, he was testing the piano by soloing with his left hand.

I never got into his style too much though although he's obviously a masterful player.

Perhaps the pedal is used due to Classical-Romantic-20th c. influences? I do hear alot of 19th and 20th c. Classical influences in his playing.
Anyone whose heard his work on the Hohner Clavinet (the same action as the harpsichord precursor, the clavichord, and made most famous by Stevie Wonder on Superstition), from recordings made 35 years ago, would soon realize that it's not due to any flaws in his legato technique.

Michel Petrucciani is great. Gotta love his independence. Although I prefer his solo stuff more, opposed to his more commercial work with groups such as this.

Commercial work? Come on, that was a very passionate solo.

I think the reason Zeitlen never became very famous is that he is too derivative of other players and maybe becuase he plays like a scientist, he sounds intellectual without much in the way of soulful lyrical melodic playing. I find him somewhat boring and I think many other listeners do to.

Denny is one of the best out there.
Been following him since the 70' and he grown MUCH.
Jazz critic Leonard Feather called Zeitlin "the most versatile young pianist to come to prominence in the early 1960s". Reflecting on Zeitlin's Columbia period, jazz historian Ted Gioia wrote that the pianist "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 fifteen years of keyboard advances. He stood out from the crowd for the unbridled creativity of his work, the richness of his harmonic palette, and the sheer beauty of his piano tone"
As Leader

* 1964 Cathexis
* 1964 Carnival
* 1965 Live At The Trident
* 1967 Zeitgeist
* 1970 & 1973 Expansion
* 1977 Syzygy
* 1978 Soundings
* 1978 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
* 1984 Tidal Wave
* 1986 Homecoming
* 1988 Trio
* 1989 In The Moment
* 1993 Live At Maybeck Recital Hall
* 1998 As Long As There’s Music
* 2004 Slickrock
* 2005 Solo Voyage
* 2009 The Columbia Studio Trio Sessions
* 2009 Trio In Concert

[edit] As Co-Leader with David Friesen

* 1992 In Concert
* 1995 Live At Maybeck Recital Hall, Concord Duo Series, Vol. 8
* 1999 Live At The Jazz Bakery

[edit] As Co-Leader with David Grisman

* 2001 New River

[edit] As Co-Leader with Charlie Haden

* 1983 Time Remembers One Time Once

[edit] As Featured Artist

* 1963 Jeremy Steig: Flute Fever
* 1983 Bill Evans- A Tribute
* 1983 Conrad Silvert Presents Jazz At The Opera House
* 1989 David Friesen: Other Times, Other Places
* 1993 David Friesen: Two For The Show
* 1996 Jazz Celebration: A Tribute To Carl Jefferson
* 1999 David Grisman: Dawg Duos
Boring???????
DPVJAZZ

LOVE this - thanks!