Pianist Denny Zeitlin and percussionist George Marsh have regularly convened in Zeitlin’s home studio since around 2013 to concoct music out of nothing, utilizing a wide array of cutting-edge tech gear with which the keyboard maestro had stocked the studio. These sessions, occurring about a half dozen times a year, are preserved with recordings and have already spun off the albums Riding the Moment in 2015 and Expedition in 2017. Now the duo — who first formed an improvising partnership in the late 60s — are ready to release more of these unique electro-acoustic experiments, this latest one entitled Telepathy.
As before, it sounds as though there are a lot of musicians playing at once, which is the point: Zeitlin is controlling a variety of keyboards at once, using hands, feet, even breath to manipulate anything from a Steinway piano, to computer synths to iPads. But it’s also very, very musical; free but not dissonant. These are truly what Zeitlin and March like to call ‘sound paintings,’ where you can hear each brush stroke applied but you can also stand back to behold and appreciate the intricate picture as a whole.
It’s amazing to hear songs that are able to pull together melody, harmony and rhythm down a forward path that moves from idea to idea, never looking back. The other remarkable thing is the endless arsenal of virtual instruments expertly deployed over every track, and how it all interacts with the drums and percussion, right from the opener: Zeitlin rides on Marsh’s ever-evolving groove on “Highlands,” occupying not just the keyboard space by bass and even guitar.
“Quicksilver” is a straight-up swinging affair, and you could be forgiven if you thought there was an actual acoustic bassist at work. At one point, there’s a Jaco-like bass solo that’s really Zeitlin on keyboards. Marsh takes on a more prominent role for “Black Hole,” showing off a wide diversity of tactics his own on drums. Zeitlin unleashes choral vocal samples that sound, well, cool. Those faux vocals gets an encore on the otherwise acoustic-ish “Moon Flower,” where it also strangely fits in.
Zeitlin plays both point and counterpoint on “Boiling Point,” devising a syncopation as Marsh is able to stretch out some from his swing groove. For “On the Move” is able to effectively mimic the sounds of an electric bass, mbira, acoustic guitar and spacey synth sounds in a strange brew that’s too fascinating to ignore.
Marsh and Zeitlin play with a great degree of freedom on “Disagree to Agree,” moving from one motif to another before settling into the familiar jazz 4/4 cadence (“Odyssey” follows this pattern, too) where both are blurring the lines between comping and soloing. Later on, stately horn blasts add a touch of majesty to the proceedings.
For “Hadron Collider,” Zeitlin’s knotted note sequences on keyboard is basically the melody as Marsh telepathically finds the rhythmic complement to it. “The Ascent” begins with some classical stylings, which is odd to say for a song that was made with little to no forethought, but Marsh and Zeitlin have long ago solved the puzzle of how to bring seemingly unsuitable styles together on the fly. “Maze” is also full of luscious orchestral flourishes but still very light on its feet.
Every song contains surprises but the faux fuzz guitar on “Fillmore Dreams” might be the biggest one of all, as the duo show off their rock side.
Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh have such a long history together but still manage to keep their partnership fresh because of their fearless experimental bent. On Telepathy, these long-established veterans from the 60s act like young upstarts showing the jazz world a fresh new approach.
Telepathy is set for release on June 25, 2021 by Sunnyside Records.
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