1. Denny Zeitlin was born on April 10,1938 and is an American jazz pianist, composer, and clinical professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco.
22 Facts About Denny Zeitlin
1. 2.
Denny Zeitlin composed the soundtrack for the 1978 science-fiction horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
3.
Denny Zeitlin began improvising on the piano at the age of two.
4.
Denny Zeitlin's father was a radiologist who played piano by ear.
5.
Denny Zeitlin's mother was a speech pathologist and his first piano teacher.
6.
Denny Zeitlin's parents allowed him to improvise on the piano for several years as a toddler, which he stated was crucial to his development and desire to begin formal study in classical music at the age of six.
7.
Denny Zeitlin started studying jazz in the eighth grade and cited George Shearing, Dave Brubeck, Billy Taylor, Lennie Tristano, Bud Powell, and Oscar Peterson as his primary early influences, and saw them perform in Chicago clubs as a teenager, able to pass for older due to being very tall.
8.
Denny Zeitlin's recording debut as a leader was the album Cathexis, with bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Freddie Waits.
9.
Denny Zeitlin then moved to San Francisco in 1964 to intern at the University of California, San Francisco, followed by a residency.
10.
Between 1968 and 1978, Denny Zeitlin integrated electronic keyboards, synthesizers, and sound-altering devices with acoustic instruments, working in multiple musical genres.
11.
The results were first heard in 1969 when Denny Zeitlin composed and performed music for the "Jazzy Spies" sequences on the first season of Sesame Street, featuring vocal overdubs by Grace Slick.
12.
The period culminated with Denny Zeitlin's writing the score for the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which turned out to be his only film score, despite numerous subsequent offers, because of the extreme workload of many 20-plus-hour days.
13.
Denny Zeitlin's projects included the solo album Soundings, the duo album Time Remembers One Time Once with Charlie Haden, and Denny Zeitlin Trio in Concert with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson.
14.
Denny Zeitlin recorded his 2020 album, Live at Mezzrow, at age 82,.
15.
Denny Zeitlin was joined by drummer George Marsh, and the two released several albums of free improvisation as a duo on Sunnyside Records.
16.
Since 1968, Denny Zeitlin has been on the teaching faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, where he is clinical professor of psychiatry.
17.
Denny Zeitlin has a private practice in San Francisco and Marin County.
18.
Denny Zeitlin had a 30-year mentorship with psychoanalyst Joseph Weiss, founder of Control Mastery Theory.
19.
Denny Zeitlin has combined his two disciplines in a lecture and workshop entitled "Unlocking the Creative Impulse: The Psychology of Improvisation".
20.
In comparing his two careers, Denny Zeitlin has said it would be a mistake to think that psychiatry served merely to support his passion for music, when in fact he has a passion for both.
21.
Denny Zeitlin lives in Marin County, California, is an avid mountain biker and wine aficionado, the latter interest shared with his trio.
22.
Denny Zeitlin has been married to actress Josephine Shady since 1969.