The part-time nature of
Denny Zeitlin's music career hasn't harmed his pianistic abilities one iota, as this trio date for the discerning Japanese market demonstrates. Beautifully recorded, with world-class support from
Buster Williams (bass) and
Al Foster (drums), the album is mostly set in the thoughtful, harmonically complex idiom now identified with
Bill Evans but with outbreaks of swinging fervor. There are two original
Zeitlin tunes -- "There and Back," with a definite
Evans flavor, and the more unpredictable wanderings of "Canyon." The rest of the tunes are Great American Songbook favorites, jazz standards (
Zeitlin is particularly inventive and swinging on
John Coltrane's modified blues "Cousin Mary"), and the traditional token bossa nova (
A.C. Jobim's "Triste"). A conservative record, yet quite beautiful.