Zeitlin shows his three sides.
Denny Zeitlin – Panoply – [TrackList follows] – Sunnyside SSC 1741, 77:25 [6/14/24] ****:
(Trio: Denny Zeitlin – acoustic piano; Buster Williams – bass; Matt Wilson – drums. Duo: Zeitlin – acoustic piano, hardware and virtual synthesizers, keyboards; George Marsh – drums, percussion. Solo: Zeitlin – acoustic piano)
Pianist Denny Zeitlin has released solo piano projects, done duo records and fronted trios. On Panoply he does all three. The word panoply is defined as a complete or impressive collection of things or a splendid display. The word is appropriate for Zeitlin’s 12-track album. It combines solo piano; electro-acoustic free improvisations with drummer/percussionist George Marsh; and live trio music with Zeitlin, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson.
Zeitlin mentions in the CD notes he went back through his personal archives of unreleased material and assembled it to focus on modalities of this century (so everything is from the recent past) and sequenced the album by flow rather than three separate sections. The different settings (solo, duo, trio) are not grouped together. Thus the music might, for example, go from duo to duo to solo; or duo to trio to duo.
Zeitlin begins with an easygoing trio rendering of George Gershwin’s “I Was Feeling Alright,” one of four numbers taped at Mezzrow Jazz Club, NYC, May 3 to 4, 2019. Zeitlin, Williams and Wilson show their longstanding camaraderie highlighted by a supple Williams solo. That’s followed by “Excursion,” one of five improvised Zeitlin/Marsh cuts recorded at Zeitlin’s Double Helix home studio in Kentfield, CA at various times over the 2013 to 2023 time frame. On the energetic “Excursion” Zeitlin shifts between acoustic piano and electric keyboards. Marsh and Zeitlin have been making music together since the late 1960s, so they are simpatico in this kind of creatively coursing environment. The other duo pieces are equally edgy. The aptly-named “Ambush” showcases how the two friends can continue to surprise each other during a jointly-conceived conception. During “Music Box” the duo tilts into ethereal territory while maintaining a sense of wonder and exploration, a perspective echoed during “Regret.” On “A Raft, A River” Zeitlin and Marsh provide a transitive movement reminiscent of a watercraft riding swift currents.
The third tune is the beautiful “Only One,” an obscure ballad from the Chris Anderson Trio’s 1961 LP Inverted Image. Anderson was not famous but influenced Zeitlin, Herbie Hancock and others. “Only One” is the first of three solo piano tunes taped in front of an audience at the Piedmont Piano Company, Oakland, CA, Dec. 1, 2012. A definite solo must-hear is Zeitlin’s solo rendition of Ray Noble’s “Cherokee.” In the CD notes, Zeitlin says the tune “was frequently selected at a breakneck tempo at jam sessions back then when new players stepped up to the bandstand. Sink or swim. My version commemorates that vibe.” The difficulty of improvising on the harmony of the track’s B-section is one reason some soloists avoid doing “Cherokee.” The award for oddest title goes to Zeitlin’s solo number “Limburger Pie and Beeswax Crust” (he admits he has no idea what the title means) which moves through different musical modes and timbres as Zeitlin improvises.
Another trio gem is little known“Weirdo” which Miles Davis issued in the early 1950s. Zeitlin explains the blues-based “Weirdo” seems to be an antecedent of Davis’ notable “Walkin’,” the title track from a Davis 1957 LP (although it was taped in the mid 1950s). During “Weirdo” the trio intertwines over nearly eight minutes and at the conclusion slips in a statement from “Walkin’.” The album ends with trio adaptations of two jazz standards. Sammy Cahn’s “I Should Care” is a beguiling ballad replete with late-night ruminations. Williams, Zeitlin and Wilson stretch out on a lengthy and upbeat interpretation of Billy Strayhorn’s “Johnny Come Lately” where the trio’s telepathic interaction comes to the forefront including an extended extemporaneous middle section dominated by vivacious vamping.
All of Zeitlins’s three sides are exquisitely illustrated on Panoply. The disparate mannerisms and approaches of solo, duo and trio work well together. And despite assorted places (home studio and two live locations) the engineering and mixing are finely meshed into an auditory enjoyment.
—Doug Simpson
Denny Zeitlin – Panoply
TrackList:
I Was Feeling Alright (trio)
Excursion (duo)
Only One (solo)
Ambush (duo)
Music Box (duo)
Cherokee (solo)
Regret (duo)
Weirdo (trio)
A Raft, A River (duo)
Limburger Pie and Beeswax Crust (solo)
I Should Care (trio)
Johnny Come Lately (trio)
More information through Sunnyside (/Bandcamp)
