Denny Zeitlin, born on April 10, 1938, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American jazz pianist and composer. He began improvising on the piano at age two and started formal classical music studies at six. By high school, Zeitlin was playing professionally around Chicago.
Zeitlin's recording career began in 1963 with his debut on Jeremy Steig’s album Flute Fever. His first album as a leader was Cathexis (1964), released under Columbia Records. He moved to San Francisco in 1964 and continued his medical studies while performing regularly at The Trident in Sausalito, California. Zeitlin won first place in the DownBeat International Jazz Critics' Poll in 1965 and 1974. In 1978, he composed the soundtrack for the science-fiction horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
