Bay-area psychiatrist/pianist Denny Zeitlin not only leads volcanic trios but is one of the pre-eminent soloists in modern jazz. To his already-substantial solo catalog (including last year’s superb Labyrinth) he now adds an album he has been wanting to make –“ a gentle, lyrical journey of mostly ballads.. to share how the music and often the exquisite lyrics of these songs have touched and intrigued me,” he explains in his liner note for Wherever You Are: Midnight Moods for Solo Piano, released recently on Sunnyside.

The title does not do justice to the sophistication of these arrangements and two original works that fill the disc, recorded at Double Helix Studio in Kentfield, CA. If “Midnight Moods” suggests relaxed easy listening, be assured this is not “smooth” background music. The choices surely point to a musician of diverse tastes and moods extending well beyond midnight—from the classics “Body and Soul,” “I Hear a Rhapsody” and “Last Night When We Were Young” to the blues, from the pens of Gordon Jenkins and Jobim to a Doris Day hit. And as diverse as is the source material, Zeitlin performs the set as if one long suite, barely pausing between tunes to take a breath.

It’s an ominous midnight mood that launches the set, as Zeitlin reharmonizes “Body and Soul” with dramatic, orchestral elegance, episodes of abstraction countering his lyrical rendering of the familiar melody. Moved by the Frank Sinatra/Nelson Riddle version, Zeitlin explores the angst of Gordon Jenkins’ “Goodbye,” shaping crystals of delicate beauty and shards of exquisite pain. Yin and Yang of emotion are also explored in Zeitlin’s melding of two Jobim standards, “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars” and “How Insensitive,” the former “extols the rapture of love” while the latter reflects “a moment of painful asymmetry.” Intending to only record “Quiet Nights,” the pianist found himself improvising on “Insensitive” –the yin and yang came spontaneously, and the result likely surpasses any had he planned the pairing. The harmonies fit together so well that one has to wonder if Jobim was truly improvising on himself.

Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg’s “Last Night When We Were Young” reflects another of Zeitlin’s preferences for the Frank Sinatra/Nelson Riddle partnership, a favorite dating back to his high school days. The pianist builds drama with an increasingly slow tempo that highlights his respect for the majesty of the composition. Extended harmonies glorify the otherwise well-worn “I Hear a Rhapsody” – what Zeitlin describes as a “beautiful example of love ‘found.’” Sometimes the familiar melody all but disappears beneath Zeitlin’s elegant experiments. Far less familiar, Harry Warren/Ralph Blane’s “My Dream Is Yours” (which Denny recalls hearing performed by Doris Day) features Zeitlin’s signature altered, complex harmonies. The blues get their due, largely rubato reworkings of an extended “The Meaning of the Blues” and contemplative “You Don’t Know What Love Is” (lyrics, of course, pointing back to “the meaning of the blues”).

Of the two Zeitlin originals, the relatively brief meandering “Time Remembers One Time Once” dates back to medical school days, first recorded with Charlie Haden in 1983. If a lyric was to be written for the title track (previously recorded with John Abercrombie in 1984), “the singer would be describing how love transcends all boundaries, all geography,” notes the composer. This description truly reflects the full recording, music that transcends time and place. Denny Zeitlin strikes the universal chords of love lost and found, creating moods for whenever, wherever you are.

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