Denny Zeitlin: 'Round Midnight

Track

'Round Midnight

Artist

Denny Zeitlin (piano)

CD

The Columbia Studio Trio Sessions (Mosaic Select 34)

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Musicians:

Denny Zeitlin (piano), Cecil McBee (bass), Freddie Waits (drums).

Composed by Thelonious Monk, Bernie Hanighen and Cootie Williams

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Recorded: New York, February 19, 1964

Albumcoverdennyzeitlinmosaicselectag200

Rating: 95/100 (learn more)

For Cathexis, his first of four albums for Columbia, Denny Zeitlin chose the rhythm team of Cecil McBee (b. 1935) and Freddie Waits (1943-1989), two young Detroiters then working with saxophonist Paul Winter. The pair worked well with Zeitlin and conceptually were capable of going in all of the directions the pianist wanted to explore.

This version of Thelonious Monk’s best-known composition ranks among the best interpretations of it. Zeitlin’s already-distinctive voicings and flair for reharmonization serve Monk’s moody piece well, and McBee’s brief solo further enhances it. The gifted pianist Marc Copland alerted me to this recording three decades ago, and it’s lost none of its allure since then.

Reviewer: Bill Kirchner

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