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| DENNY ZEITLIN: The Name of This Terrain "A few years after he burst onto the jazz scene, and almost a decade before he would record the soundtrack to a remake of 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, ' the celebrated pianist Denny Zeitlin took his trio into the studio in 1969 to work on a surrealist sci-fi concept album of his own, 'The Name of This Terrain.' Bridging the space-age pop of the preceding decade and the jazz-rock era to come, the demos they made showcased Zeitlin's always-impressive compositions, the snug versatility of his core trio (featuring the bassist Mel Graves and the drummer George Marsh) and — surprisingly — the band members' orotund baritones… he rightly decided that the original tapes were compelling enough to be released on their own, and the album is out via Now-Again Records." Giovanni Russonello, New York Times MORE CRITICAL ACCLAIM "... Well, it only took 50 years for this forward thinking stuff to find its audience and here it is. Dr. Z. has gone pretty far out there when he feels like it but this goes beyond the reaches of the seventh galaxy where Hendrix and Miles are waging their final war over Betty Davis. Who knew what was lurking beneath the surface all this time? Utterly wild stuff that could have changed the face of FM radio and beyond." Chris Spector, Midwest Record "…There's everything for me to love here; Jazzers that can rock and funk; a late 60s aesthetic; highly visual, smartly poetic, lightly ironic lyrics; an endearingly playful, experimental spirit. These are brains and souls that just had to explore; to understand it, and themselves, by doing, not by conceptualising or defining. And these brains and souls went and produced my favourite smart-arsed, playfully wonky album of all time." Ian Ward, UK Vibe Magazine "The Amazing Denny Zeitlin… The six songs, or rather "instrumental songs" from this unclassifiable album defy categories… In short, our heads turn and this incredible album is not close to leaving our turntables." Fred Goaty, Jazz Magazine (France) "Gifted psychiatrist, jazz pianist, and Sesame Street scorer's worlds collide on rare 1969 demo disc… the complicity between Zeitlin's electronic keyboard experiments, Mel Graves' loping, magic carpet basslines and George Marsh's backbeats is an improvisational wonder, foreshadowing routes taken by many modern jazz trios since. Cosmic, funky, riddled with left swerves, once heard it's not easily forgotten." Andy Cowan, Mojo Magazine (UK) "...It's astonishing to discover not only that this disc of experimental jazz-funk-rock garnered no interest in 1969 and remained unloved—even by its composer—until now, but also, given the top quality of both the recording and the performances, that it was meant as a demo…it's all great stuff…" Christopher Budd, Shindig Magazine (UK) " …even after more than a half a century, and through all the vagaries of fashion, this is still a remarkable piece of work…" Brian Morton, The Wire Magazine (UK) "An insanely fantastic lost chapter in the career of pianist Denny Zeitlin – a never-issued session of electric keyboards and vocals – put together with his famous trio of the 60s, but lost to the world for many decades!.. maybe most interesting are the vocals created for the set – jazzy but offbeat lyrics that pop in and out of the tunes in this very cool way… the album's definitely one that we'd put right up there with the best…" Rick Wojcik, Dusty Groove "…It's a powerful and expansive work with Zeitlin's limber piano playing up front, but reaching across styles in a fusion which gets seriously funky in some places, positively cosmic in others. The title track alone is a 12-minute opus which will take you far and wide, like all the best jazz should." JUNO Magazine (UK) "…the world still hasn't caught up with the sounds or the vibe of Zeitlin's unearthly recording." Steve Krakow, Chicago Reader "Jazz pianist, psychiatrist and Invasion of the Bodysnatchers soundtrack composer Denny Zeitlin's epic late 60s leftfield classical and jazz-funk fusion marvel The Name of This Terrain has resurfaced via Now-Again Records after its creator reconsidered the noteworthiness of his early career experimentation." New Commute "…Anyone who seeks forward sounds, complexity and fire, you should no doubt give this a chance…the band can sing on pitch and in their own realm…it adds to the music and gives us a new angle on it all listening now… and the rest of the album lives up to the challenge of the first cut. It is complex, advanced, at times in a mind-meld of the more psychedelic music of the period but perhaps in ways that might not have been easily assimilated back then." Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music Review "… 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?" George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly "…'The Name of This Terrain, ' …his signature integration of "rock and jazz and free-form music and electronics" — with lyrics that bubbled up from his unconscious…easygoing, audacious, wonderfully, cheekily derivative, sometimes naughty, indicative of the finger-snapping, groovy beatnik times. Yet, timeless too… the technical wizardry and novel invention of three well-established, well-integrated musician friends feeling out the new material…you'd be hard-pressed to find any existing, established vocalist from the '60s to present who could as ably fill the role as these three jazz instrumentalists can… the words given life by the vocals seem a natural part of the music; the fourth instrument, if you will…a brilliant, organic coming together of the celebratorily divergent…" Carol Banks Weber, Coggie Ink write your comments about the article :: © 2022 Jazz News :: home page |