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| New Video: Incredible Musical Telepathy From Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh have electro-acoustic roots going back to the late sixties when they recorded and concertized together for a decade in the Denny Zeitlin Trio. In 2017, 50 years later, Sunnyside Records released "Expedition, " a duo album of critically acclaimed free improvisations. Zeitlin's studio resembles Mission Control at Houston, with the multiple computers, monitors, controllers, and miles of cables. Open to all genres, with no pre-planning of any kind, George, playing drumset and percussion, and Denny, playing acoustic piano, plus 4 keyboards/synthesizers, launch into free-improvisation. The sound barrier that provides separation for recording makes it impossible for them to see each other. They rely on headphones and a musical rapport that seems telepathic. The performances have such structural integrity that people often think these "spontaneous compositions" must have been written out. NEWLY RELEASED ON SUNNYSIDE RECORDS: "EXPEDITION" Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh continue their duo electro-acoustic adventures in free improvisation (Sunnyside Records 1487) Street Date: July 21, 2017 CRITICAL ACCLAIM "There is a wonderfully free-flowing spirit to the new Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh CD Expedition. The music percolates like water from a newly tapped spring. It has an organic slipstream feel to it that comes from these two brilliant musicians capturing themselves exploring totally "in the moment" improvisations. Script-less forays into the possibilities; Zeitlin's electro-acoustic keyboard artistry paired with Marsh's intuitively complementary percussive accentuation…" Ralph A. Miriello, HuffingtonPost "… The number of jazz musicians who were innovating 4-5 decades ago and continue to innovate today is very small; Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh certainly belong in that exclusive club. Expedition continues their long, provocative journey." S. Victor Aaron, SomethingElseReviews "…[Zeitlin] is able to create – in all of his music, composed and improvised – heroic portraits and vast panoramas as well as infusing them with an intimacy and an emotional intensity which can only be described as the "poetry of feeling." …The effect, as in all the recordings of the past is breathtaking… As ever, Mr. Marsh plays above and beyond the call of rhythm. His is a music fused into the music of Denny Zeitlin. He (George Marsh) is vigourous – viscerally so – when the music drives him to it. But there is also a gentle lyricism…. No matter what the applied force, George Marsh always plays like a man inspired with such presence and seriousness that every moment sounds carefully weighed up. Together, Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh make music that never shows any sense of calculation or strain and it would be hard to find playing of greater immediacy in the music of another piano-drum duo." Raul da Gama, JazzdaGama "[album pre-release review of 'Geysers'] It takes deeply rooted and restively curious minds to make music like this. On the opening track of this duo's new album, "Expedition, " Mr. Marsh's sense of syncopation on the drum kit refers back to before even the establishment of jazz rhythm. Mr. Zeitlin, an inveterate piano innovator since the 1960s and a fusion pioneer, plays a variety of keyboards and synthesizers; he conjures a vague drone in the middle-to-low range, circling your inner ear with melodies and effects. They wander at first, then find direction; they deepen and soak in, rather than evaporate." Giovanni Russonello, NewYorkTimes "… This is above all integrated spontaneity, with complete timbral mastery joining fittingly with free jazz inventiveness of the highest order. In the listening is the confirmation. Expedition is one of the finest jazz albums of the year!" Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music Review "… While the scent of freedom carries on the air across this entire album, the music is rarely formless. It grooves, breathes, flows, and evolves in kaleidoscopic fashion, taking and/or changing shape through a near-telepathic process… Entire tracks—or "sound paintings, " if we're going with the Zeitlin-Marsh vernacular—often possess a magnetic draw born of language and development… Any opportunity to hear Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh take us into the great unknown is an opportunity worth taking." Dan Bilawsky, AllAboutJazz "Pianist Denny Zeitlin, [Roscoe] Mitchell's contemporary and fellow native of Chicago is equally dedicated to ceaseless artistic growth…Zeitlin and Marsh's unplanned mutual inventiveness is so logical that it often sounds as if it must have been conceived on manuscript paper, but no; it is spontaneous improvisation… The album is a remarkable technical accomplishment. More important, it is a solid musical achievement that has the virtue of being—if you'll pardon the outmoded, uncool, expression—entertaining." Doug Ramsey, ArtsJournal.com/Rifftides " …He and percussionist par excellence George Marsh continue to explore the dynamics of creation at an exciting level of interaction on Expedition. And what's more, while doing so, they heed bassist Bill Crow's admonition about the purpose of Jazz - they have fun. You can sense the thrill of adventure in the music they are making as the music is alive; boundless; unpredictable - just the way it should be at this stage of their long careers in music." Steven Cerra, JazzProfiles.blogspot "This is not the first collaboration between pianist/keyboardist Denny Zeitlin and drummer George Marsh, but it's the strongest… Both artists use broad brush strokes on these abstract paintings of sounds, taking the listener to other exotic worlds." George W. Harris, JazzWeekly "… Now, the label has issued "Expedition" and it's even more fascinating and exploratory than the duo's debut…What makes this album and its pastiche of sounds, noises, and melodies so impressive is that the music is always accessible, always intelligent. You should go on this trip; it's not "novelty" music but the adventures of two musicians who have always pushed beyond the mundane, the tried and true, into the heart of creative music." Richard B. Kamins, StepTempest.Blogspot "What began with the intriguing 2015 release Riding the Moment has taken a huge leap on Expedition. The electro-acoustic explorations of keyboardist Denny Zeitlin and percussionist George Marsh dive even deeper into the "electro" part of that equation. Melodies lash out like streaks of lightning across a nighttime sky. Rhythms are the rainstorm that follows. The harmonies are the thick clouds that instill wonder at how such beauty can exist within so much chaos. It's a special kind of dramatic music that can elicit big smiles, and Zeitlin and Marsh do so again and again." Dave Sumner, Daily.Bandcamp "[4.5 out of 5 stars]… There's a lot for the ears to digest. Synthesizers—and Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh—are capable of so much, as in the closer/title tune, with its bowed bass-like opening that evolves in the direction of the symphonic, featuring a horn-like monologue backed by electro-drones and swirlings, interjected with Marsh's robust percussive poetry. A superb wrap-up to this set of the Denny Zeitlin/George Marsh innovations." Dan McClenaghan, AllAboutJazz "Denny Zeitlin, George Marsh reunite for cosmic explosion on "Expedition"… an intriguing continuation of the duo's genre-less, free jazz experimentation from the 2015 album, Riding The Moment… The duo remains firmly outside the lines of traditional music, or any specific genre.. The visual equivalent of their Expedition is one of traversing a vast forest filled with lots of animated wildlife and flowers in bloom…" Carol Banks Weber, JazzMedium write your comments about the article :: © 2017 Jazz News :: home page |