Welcome back Dear Friends,
Dear Readers.
A million years ago,
or so it seems today,
I picked up yet another brilliant
ECM recording,
and discovered
a new talent.
When I saw that Charlie Haden
was playing duo
with a pianist,
I knew I had to have a copy.
It was in 1983
on
Time Remembers One Time Once
that I discovered
Denny Zeitlin.
Loved the album,
and loved the find.
Denny played beautifully,
but honestly,
and uncharacteristic of me,
I lost track of him for all these years.
How is it possible
that I didn't seek out
everything this fascinating
artist created?!
After all,
we both grew up in Highland Park Il.
And Denny went on to duel careers,
as a clinical professor of psychiatry,
and as jazz pianist
with many fine recordings to his name.
Bill Evans
recorded
Zeitlin's tune
Quiet Now.
Leonard Feather
called Zeitlin
"the most versatile young pianist to come to prominence in the early 1960s".
Zeitlin wrote and performed the music for
Sesame Streets
Jazzy Spies
series.
And he wrote the score
for the 1978
remake of
Invasion of the Body Snatchers!
Denny wrote all this great stuff,
and twice won
The Down Beat International Jazz Critics Award,
and I lost track of him anyway?!
As they say...
My bad.
My loss.
Well I'm back!
I stumbled upon
Cathexis
a few weeks ago
and I am glad I did!
I am hooked!
You will be too.
Denny plays with
Cecil McBee & Frederick Waits
on this fine recording.
Repeat,
the opening track,
is a rollicking,
Bud Powell -esque
romp.
I-Thou
is a cool, crisp, breeze of a tune
that will remind you of
Bill Evans.
And
Stonehenge
brought a young and only slightly less thunderous
McCoy Tyner
to mind.
Cathexis
is a treasure chest
packed to the gills
with glimmering gems.
Gems
that you
will want to take out
and show off
as often as you can.
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