Denny Zeitlin
b. 10 April 1938, Chicago, USA. Zeitlin had a classical music training before studying medicine at Johns Hopkins University and then Columbia. In 1963 he successfully auditioned for the record producer John Hammond, Jnr. but then moved to San Francisco where he studied psychiatry and played the piano. In 1965 he was involved in a trio with bassist Charlie Haden. His interest in the use of the prepared piano (in which the sound of the piano is changed by attaching nuts, bolts and screws to the strings) encouraged him to experiment with sounds available from synthesizers as these became more readily available in the late '60s. Along with his keyboard playing, he has written instrumental scores, including a film score for Philip Kaufman's Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers in 1978.