A unique figure in modern jazz, Zeitlin trained as a psychiatrist and has practised medicine in addition to his musical career. His family background included both vocations and the youngster studied with both Alexander Tcherepnin and George Russell, giving him an understanding of both classical forms and jazz harmony which came together (with some rock music superadded) in his experimental albums of the ’70s. While still a student, Zeitlin was heard by John Hammond, who signed him for Columbia.
Cathexis is one of the great modern piano trio records. The title shouldn’t be confused with ‘catharsis’. Cathexis is a term used for what is essentially emotional charge, the amount of psychic energy in a given situation. Its appropriateness here is obvious. The title-piece is a tense, almost incendiary theme, which seems to discharge in a series of abrupt climaxes. It’s equally startling to find the work of Jewish philosopher Martin Buber cited on a jazz album, but ‘I-Thou’ derives its notions of personal confrontation and mutuality from Buber’s once fashionable ideas. ‘Little Children, Don’t Go Near That House’ anticipates some of the atmospheric work of later years. It has astonishing drama, fuelled by an off-kilter metre, and its folkloric element, balancing innocence and experience, is palpable and powerful. ‘Stonehenge’ is reminiscent of some of McCoy Tyner’s modal experiments of the period, but also something of an apocalyptic strain in ’60s culture. There are a couple of repertory pieces, Gigi Gryce’s ‘Nica’s Tempo’ and the staple ‘Round Midnight’, which is dealt with almost skeletally, reducing the pace to its basic armature. McBee and Waits are both in exceptional form.
Zeitlin’s wider reputation was only restored when he made a Maybeck Hall recital for Concord in 1992. Medical work kept him from the studios for a time, but it was his creative ambition rather than a full patient list that eclipsed the work, which was too restless and exploratory to sustain a consistent career. In retrospect, he is one of the most important stylists and composers of the time, and mercifully still playing today. - The Penguin Jazz Guide (Brian Morton, Apple Books, 2011)
Tracks
01. Repeat (Zeitlin)
02. I-Thou (Zeitlin)
03. Stonehenge (Zeitlin
04. Soon (Zeitlin)
05. Nica's Tempo (Gryce)
06. Cathexis (Zeitlin)
07. 'Round Midnight (Williams/Washington/Monk)
08. Little Children, Don't Go Near That House (Zeitlin)
09. Blue Phoenix (Zeitlin)
CECIL McBEE bass
FREDDIE WAITS drums
DENNY ZEITLIN piano
Recorded February 19 and March 6, 1964, New York
Columbia Records COL-5891