One of our most lyrical pianists, Denny Zeitlin delivers a tour de force solo performance, interpreting songs from the wide ranging Miles Davis songbook, from his early bebopping days to his plugged in comeback. The 2016 concert at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, CA, was sure to be a good advertisement for buying one of the products, as the 88 ivories (or whatever they use these days) glisten in the hands of this diamond cutter.
There are two different songs titled “Milestones,” one is a 1947 bop ballad with Zeitlin spotlighting the nuance harmonics, while the other 1958 modal tune has his hand in a bouncing joy. He mixes piano strings with piano keys to add exotic allure to “Flamenco Sketches” and mixes dark strums for the shadowed “Tomaas.” His chordal touch is warm and clever during “Dear Old Stockholm” and does clever harmonic work for the moody bop standard “Stablemates” before taking the classic Davis closer “The Theme” and approaching it with a tensile high pitch. Spacious reflections on a contemplative “Solar” and a patiently paced “Weirdo” are impressionistic masterworks done with pastels. Like his previous interpretation of Wayne Shorter material, this one’s a real treat and a moving tribute to an artist that bridged wide gaps.