Denny Zeitlin: 'Odyssey,' 2003-2025
The new release by the pianist is a fascinating electro-acoustic adventure
You probably know Denny Zeitlin best as the composer of Quiet Now, which became a jazz standard in the 1960s recorded by the Bill Evans Trio and many others. [Photo above of Denny Zeitlin, left, and George Marsh by Josephine Zeitlin]
If you’re familiar with Denny’s kaleidoscopic approach to jazz piano, then you’re certainly familiar with his superb early 1960s Columbia albums Cathexis (1964), Carnival (1964), Shining Hour: Live at the Trident (1966) Zeitgeist (1967), as well as his solo and trio work over the years and his archival releases.
One of Denny’s most fascinating, self-produced recordings has just been released on Sunnyside. Odyssey features music in three different instrumental configurations:
The first—It Could Happen to You and Body and Soul—were recorded in 2003 at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco. It was part of the San Francisco Jazz Festival and featured Denny on piano, Mel Graves on bass and George Marsh on drums.
The second features solo works by Denny on piano—I Love You and Night and Day—recorded in 2020, and It Was Just One of Those Things, recorded in 2025. All were recorded at the Double Helix Studio in Kentfield, Calif.
And the third is a duo showcase—Search, Game On!, Surveillance, Armageddon, Mutation and Call to Arms, which were recorded in 2023; and Conclave, which was recorded in 2024. The sessions took place at the Double Helix Studio in Kentfield, Calif, and featured Denny on piano and SWAM orchestral software with Marsh on Roland Electronic Drums.
On standards, I love how Denny gives you sporadic markers of the standards played so you can follow along but then re-invents them, taking you along on his exploration. His electro-acoustic works on originals have a completely different kind of depth, evoking a cinematic mood without losing the abstract conversation his keyboard is having with Marsh’s drums.
For more on Denny’s duo works with George Marsh, visit Denny’s discography here.
To read my 2009 interview with Denny, go here.
To read my 2021 interview with Denny and how Quiet Now was conceived and composed, go here.
To listen and buy, go here.
Here’s It Could Happen to You…
Here’s Body and Soul…
And here’s Search…