Best known for his acoustic piano work a la Bill Evans, with an occasional foray into electronica, Denny Zeitlin has issued a session from 1969 that is going to raise a few eyebrows. Think about running across your father’s college photos, for comparison.
This session from the Nixon Years has Zeitlin on piano and a number of various keyboards. He’s also singing on lead vocals-don’t pass out yet, as he shares the mic with drummer George Marsh and bassist Mel Graves. What’s going on here?
Well, what actually results is a series of tunes that are at times as funky as anything like Billy Preston, as on “2 Steps Forward, One Step Back”, while most of the time you think you’re in a session led by Frank Zappa, circa Hot Rats. You get a mix of artsy rock and vocals on “Free Piece” as well as a mix of rock and James Brown on the famous flamer “Gonna Take You Away”, while a nasty little bass line zips through “What’s In It For You”. As customary with the times, there is plenty of electronic experimentation as on the spacy “The Name Of This Terrain” while things swirl around on the mind bending “The Wizard”. WHEW-a mother of invention! Did Zeitlin ever open for the Grateful Dead?