Denny Zeitlin (born April 10, 1938)[1] is an American jazz pianist, composer, and clinical professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco.

His parents allowed him to improvise on the piano for several years as a toddler, which he stated was crucial to his development and desire to begin formal study in classical music at the age of six.

[5][4] He started studying jazz in the eighth grade, and cited George Shearing, Dave Brubeck, Billy Taylor, Lennie Tristano, Bud Powell, and Oscar Peterson as his primary early influences, and saw them perform in Chicago clubs as a teenager, able to pass for older due to being very tall.

Pianist Bill Evans, an early supporter, frequently recorded Zeitlin's composition "Quiet Now" and made it the title track of a 1970 album.

[11] Reflecting on Zeitlin's Columbia period, jazz historian Ted Gioia wrote that the pianist "had assimilated the breakthroughs of the previous decade, from the impressionism of Bill Evans to the free-fall explorations of Ornette Coleman, and blended them into a personal style that anticipated the next fifteen years of keyboard advances.

[12] Between 1968 and 1978, Zeitlin integrated electronic keyboards, synthesizers, and sound-altering devices with acoustic instruments, working in multiple musical genres.

The results were first heard in 1969 when Zeitlin composed and performed music for the "Jazzy Spies" sequences on the first season of Sesame Street, featuring vocal overdubs by Grace Slick.

"[3] Zeitlin lives in Marin County, California, is an avid mountain biker and wine aficionado, the latter interest shared with his trio.