One of the greatest of the living jazz pianists, the Bill Evans-inspired Denny Zeitlin occasionally forays into the world of electronica. In this environment, he brings in drummer George Marsh for a collection of ‘electro-acoustic improvisations’ for 14 original pieces. The beauty of this album is that, unlike other electric experimentations, Zeitlin uses his synthesizers and hardware to essentially create the sounds of a jazz trio, bopping quartet and quintet, using his effects to sort of replicate the support of a horn, bass or guitar, and it works wonderfully.
Thus, there are pan pipes blowing on the world music of “Highlands”, a swinging ‘bass’ solo on the post bopper “Quicksilver” and “Boiling Point” akin to one of Zeitlin mainstream trio formants or an “orchestra” in the background of Marsh’s crisp sticks on the snappy “Moon Flower”. Then, there are also forays into the world of fusion a la Weather Report in the textured “The Ascent” and ricocheting synthesizers from the heady days of Return to Forever splash around on “Fillmore Dreams” while Zeitlin taps into his inner Jaco Pastorius for a teaming with Marsh on “Hadron Collider”. Zeitlin and Marsh turn duos into various multiple musical factors.