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Musician

Tony Levin

Tony Levin - © Lrheath, en.wikipedia.org

born on 6/16/1946 in Boston, MA, United States

Tony Levin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known[1] for his work with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. He was also a member of Liquid Tension Experiment, Bruford Levin Upper Extremities, ProjeKct One, and ProjeKct Four. He has led his own band, Stick Men.

A prolific session musician since the 1970s, Levin has played on 500 albums, including those by Cher, Asia, Alice Cooper, John Lennon,[2] Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, Stevie Nicks, Pink Floyd, Paul Simon, Dire Straits, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Tom Waits, Buddy Rich, The Roches, Todd Rundgren, Seal, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, Warren Zevon, Kevin Parent, Bryan Ferry, Laurie Anderson, Yes, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Gibonni, and Jean-Pierre Ferland. Additionally, he has toured with artists including Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon (with whom Levin appeared in Simon's 1980 film One-Trick Pony), Gary Burton, James Taylor, Herbie Mann, Judy Collins, Carly Simon, Peter Frampton, Tim Finn, Richie Sambora, Ivano Fossati[3] and Claudio Baglioni.

Levin helped to popularize the Chapman Stick and the NS upright bass. He also created "funk fingers", modified drumsticks attached to fingers used to hit the bass strings (which sounds similar to slap style bass). In 2011, Levin ranked second (behind John Paul Jones) in The "20 Most Underrated Bass Guitarists" in Paste magazine.[4]

Biography

Early life and education

Anthony Frederick Levin was born on June 6, 1946, in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in the suburb of Brookline. He began playing double bass at 10 years old, primarily studying classical music. In high school, he learned tuba, soloing with the concert band, and also started a barbershop quartet.

After high school, he attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and played in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Also at Eastman, he studied with drummer Steve Gadd. He traded in his Ampeg electric upright "Baby Bass" for a Fender Precision Bass; in the early days his first bass amplifier was an Ampeg Portaflex B-15.

In 1968, Gap Mangione released his first solo album, Diana in the Autumn Wind, featuring drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Tony Levin in their first recordings, and new compositions and arrangements by Chuck Mangione, who conducted as well.

1970s–1980s

In 1970, Levin moved to New York City, joining a band called Aha, the Attack of the Green Slime Beast, with Don Preston of The Mothers of Invention. Soon after, he began working as a session musician, and through the 1970s he played bass on many albums, including Buddy Rich's big band jazz album, The Roar of '74, and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years.

In 1976, Levin joined with Steve Gadd on drums to create the lush textures on Andy Pratt's Resolution album that included other studio musicians including Arif Mardin, Andy Newmark, Hugh McDonald, and Luther Vandross. Allmusic.com and Rolling Stone magazine rated this album as one of the best singer/songwriter albums of the 1970s.

In the late 1970s, Levin joined Peter Gabriel's band. He had met Gabriel through producer Bob Ezrin (with whom Levin had recorded Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare and Lou Reed's Berlin). Levin has been Gabriel's bass player of choice ever since, both on the road and in the studio. On Gabriel's first solo album, Levin played tuba as well as bass, and directed a short barbershop quartet version of "Excuse Me".

In these early years with Gabriel, Levin developed his playing of the Chapman Stick. In 1986, the song "Big Time", from Gabriel's So album, inspired the development of funk fingers, which are chopped off drumsticks used to hammer on the bass strings. Levin credits Gabriel with the idea, and Andy Moore, his tech at the time, with actually making them workable.

In 1978, Levin moved to Woodstock, New York, to join the band L'Image, which included his old friend Steve Gadd as well as Mike Mainieri and Warren Bernhardt. The band broke up after a year, and Levin stayed in the area, he currently resides in Kingston, New York. While recording and touring Peter Gabriel's first album, Levin became acquainted with Robert Fripp, and in 1980, after having played on Fripp's solo album, Exposure, he became a member of the 1980s incarnation of King Crimson. In August 1980, he began recording sessions on Double Fantasy with John Lennon and a group of his contemporaries. He also played all of the bass guitar and Chapman Stick parts on Pink Floyd's 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason as a session player.

In 1988 Bruford asked Levin to be an unofficial fifth member in the supergroup Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe which consisted of members from the classic Yes lineup, but because he was never a Yes member, Levin could only function as session musician on ABWH's eponymous album (due to an extended illness, he was unable to play on some dates of the accompanying tour, being replaced by Jeff Berlin), and also on Yes' 1991 album Union.

In 1984 Levin released Road Photos, a collection of black and white photos taken during his travels with Crimson, Gabriel, Simon, and others. Another book of photos focusing on King Crimson's travels in the 1980s, The Crimson Chronicles volume 1, was released in 2004. There has been no word yet on the release of volume 2, which will cover the 1990s and possibly 2000s versions of the band. Levin has also written a book of career anecdotes and road stories called Beyond the Bass Clef.

Levin was part of King Crimson until the mid-1990s breakup of the "Double Trio" line-up of the band which consisted of Levin, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Trey Gunn, Pat Mastelotto, and Bill Bruford. Fripp then reformed King Crimson as a quartet, without Levin and Bruford. Levin also took part in two of the post-breakup experimental sub-groups, ProjeKct One (1997) and ProjeKct Four (1998). Levin played bass on "Watcher of the Skies" from Steve Hackett's Genesis Revisited album (1996). In 2008, Levin rejoined for King Crimson's short 40th Anniversary Tour, the lineup including Fripp, Belew, and drummers Mastelotto and Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree)

1990s–2000s

In 1998, Levin and Bruford formed Bruford Levin Upper Extremities with trumpeter Chris Botti and guitarist David Torn; the group released albums in 1998 and 2000. Torn, Levin, and Bruford had previously been a quartet, along with trumpeter Mark Isham, for Torn's 1987 studio album Cloud About Mercury (bassist Mick Karn replaced Levin for the tour). Levin also continued producing albums with his own band, the Tony Levin Band. This band consists of Jerry Marotta, Jesse Gress, Larry Fast, and Tony Levin's brother, Pete Levin. He also regularly plays live and occasionally records with the California Guitar Trio when schedules permit.

In 1997, Levin teamed up with Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci, members of Dream Theater, as well as future Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess, for a project called Liquid Tension Experiment. The combo released two albums, Liquid Tension Experiment and Liquid Tension Experiment 2 in 1998 and 1999 respectively, as well as playing short tours in 1998 and 2008. There have also been two CDs of material released under the name Liquid Trio Experiment; the first composed of studio jams from the LTE2 sessions without Petrucci (Spontaneous Combustion), released for the band's tenth anniversary, and a live recording from a 2008 Chicago gig where Rudess's rig crashed and the other three covered for it with a nearly hour-long improvisation (When the Keyboard Breaks).

At the end of 2003 Trey Gunn left King Crimson and Levin rejoined as the bassist, although the band was only active for a handful of rehearsals at that time and a short tour in the summer of 2008.

In 2006, Levin released Resonator, an album which features long time bandmates Jerry Marotta, Jesse Gress, Larry Fast, with the addition of his brother Pete Levin. The album is the first to feature Levin as a lead vocalist. 2007 saw the release of Stick Man, an album of pieces recorded on the Chapman Stick.

In 2009 Levin reunited with his band from 1973, L'Image, featuring Mike Mainieri, Warren Bernhardt, David Spinozza, and Steve Gadd. The group performed at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City, toured Japan, and released the album L'Image 2.0. In 2010 Tony toured with HoBoLeMa, a group consisting of Allan Holdsworth on guitar, Levin on bass, and Pat Mastelotto and Terry Bozzio on drums. All their shows were completely improvised with no written music.

Following on from the Stick Man album, Levin joined up with fellow player Michael Bernier and King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto to form the group Stick Men.[5] The band released its first album Soup in 2010.[6] Bernier left the group shortly after the release of Soup and was replaced by touch guitarist Markus Reuter in 2010. This lineup has continued with a busy touring and recording schedule, releasing the EP Absalom in 2011 and the full albums Open (June 2012), and Deep (Sept 2012).

Tony Levin's brother, Pete Levin, is a New York keyboardist and writer who is best known for his work with Gil Evans. In the 1970s, Tony and Pete collaborated with Steve Gadd in the comedy band The Clams. Levin has stated that some of the Clams' material may eventually be released. Tony Levin also played on Jean-Pierre Ferland's Jaune album, which included hits "Le petit roi" and "Le chat du café des artistes".

On September 24, 2013, Tony Levin was officially announced as a member of the 8th incarnation of King Crimson, alongside band founder Robert Fripp, guitarist Jakko Jakszyk, the returning Mel Collins on saxophone, and drummers Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison and new member Bill Rieflin.[7] The group toured the United States in the autumn of 2014.

Influence

Many artists have cited Levin as an influence or have expressed their admiration for him, including Les Claypool of Primus,[8] Colin Hodgkinson,[9] Nick Beggs,[10] Al Barrow of Magnum,[11][12] Dan Briggs of Between the Buried and Me,[13] Zach Cooper of Coheed and Cambria[14] and Jonathan Hischke of Dot Hacker and El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez.[15]

Personal life

In 2003, Levin stated that he is a vegetarian.[16]

Discography

Levin has played on hundreds of records as session musician or guest artist.

Date Artists Title
1995 Tony Levin World Diary
2000 Waters of Eden
2002 Pieces of the Sun
2002 Double Espresso
2006 Resonator
2007 Stick Man
1974 Herbie Mann First Light as The Family of Mann
1976 Surprises
1974 [1976] Gagaku & Beyond
1977 Brazil: Once Again
1977 Peter Gabriel Peter Gabriel (Car)
1978 Peter Gabriel (Scratch)
1980 Peter Gabriel (Melt)
1982 Peter Gabriel (Security)
1983 Plays Live
1985 Birdy
1986 So
1992 Us
1994 Secret World Live
2000 OVO
2002 Up
1981 King Crimson Discipline
1982 Beat
1982 The Noise: Frejus (VHS) / Neal and Jack and Me (DVD)
1984 Three of a Perfect Pair
1984 Three of a Perfect Pair: Live in Japan (VHS) / Neal and Jack and Me (DVD)
1998 Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal
1994 Vrooom
1995 THRAK
1995 B'Boom: Live in Argentina
1996 Thrakattak
1996 Live in Japan (VHS) / Déjà Vrooom (DVD) / The Collectable King Crimson Volume Five (Live in Japan 1995 – The Official Edition)
1999 Live in Mexico City
2001 Vrooom Vrooom
1999 The ProjeKcts
1999 The Deception of the Thrush: A Beginners' Guide to ProjeKcts
2012 Live in Argentina, 1994 (DVD-A)
2014-2017 The Elements of King Crimson
2015 Live at the Orpheum
2015 Live EP 2014 (Vinyl Cyclops Picture Disc)
2016 Live In Toronto
2016 Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind
2017 Heroes - Live In Europe, 2016
1989 Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
2012 Live at the NEC
1991 Yes Union
1997 Gorn, Levin, Marotta From the Caves of the Iron Mountain
Bozzio Levin Stevens Black Light Syndrome
2000 Situation Dangerous
1998 ProjeKct One Live at the Jazz Café
1999 ProjeKct Four West Coast Live
1998 Liquid Tension Experiment Liquid Tension Experiment
1999 Liquid Tension Experiment 2
2007 Liquid Trio Experiment Spontaneous Combustion
2009 Liquid Trio Experiment 2 When the Keyboard Breaks: Live in Chicago
Liquid Tension Experiment Liquid Tension Experiment Live 2008 – Limited Edition Boxset
Liquid Tension Experiment Live in NYC
Liquid Tension Experiment Live in LA
1998 Bruford Levin Upper Extremities Bruford Levin Upper Extremities
2000 B.L.U.E. Nights
2008 Steven Wilson Insurgentes (Kscope) on tracks 5 and 6
2011 Grace for Drowning (Kscope)
2009 Stick Men Stick Men [A special edition]
2010 Soup
2011 Absalom(EP)
Live In Montevideo 2011
Live In Buenos Aires 2011
2012 Open
2013 Deep
2014 Power Play
Unleashed: Live Improvs 2013
Supercollider: An Anthology 2010-2014
2015 Midori: Live In Tokyo (Featuring David Cross)
2016 Prog Noir
2017 Roppongi - Live In Tokyo 2017 (Featuring Mel Collins)
KONNEKTED
2011 Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins (with Levin and Harrison) A King Crimson ProjeKct A Scarcity of Miracles
2011 Tony Levin, David Torn, Alan White Levin Torn White
2013 Tony Levin, Marco Minnemann, Jordan Rudess Levin Minnemann Rudess
2015 Anthony Curtis and Tony Levin Book of the Key
  • Alive! (1972) - Chuck Mangione Quartet
  • Berlin (1973) - Lou Reed
  • The Roar of '74 (1973) - Buddy Rich
  • Simba (Groove Merchant, 1974) – O'Donel Levy
  • Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) - Paul Simon
  • Welcome To My Nightmare (1975) - Alice Cooper
  • Goes To Hell (1976) - Alice Cooper
  • Lace & Whiskey (1977) - Alice Cooper
  • Double Fantasy (1980) - John Lennon & Yoko Ono
  • Momentary Lapse of Reason(1986) – Pink Floyd
  • Cloud About Mercury (ECM, 1986) – David Torn
  • Stranger in This Town (1991) – Richie Sambora
  • Spin 1ne 2wo (1993) – Spin 1ne 2wo
  • Dream Sequence (Psi, 1995-2003 [2003]) - Kenny Wheeler
  • L'Image 2.0 (2009) – L'Image
  • The Next Day (2013) - David Bowie
  • "Music From An Expanded Universe" (2014) - Leon Alvarado
  • "The Natural Edge" (1989) "Pop Out World" - David Wilcox

References

  1. ^ Ankeny, Jason (June 6, 1946). "Tony Levin". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-07-16. 
  2. ^ http://www.hit-channel.com/tony-levin-stick-menking-crimsonpeter-gabrieljohn-lennon/34535
  3. ^ http://papabear.com/site_archive/tlevarc.htm
  4. ^ Barrett, John (July 9, 2014). "The 20 Most Underrated Bass Guitarists :: Music :: Lists :: Paste". Pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 2014-07-16. 
  5. ^ "Pat Mastelotto 2013 interview on Outsight Radio Hours". Archive.org. Retrieved May 5, 2013. 
  6. ^ "Tonylevin.Com". Tonylevin.Com. Retrieved 2011-07-16. 
  7. ^ "News". Dgmlive.com. Retrieved 2014-07-16. 
  8. ^ West, David (May 13, 2015). "Les Claypool: 10 bassists that blew my mind". MusicRadar. p. 7. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017. 
  9. ^ De Pasquale, Luca; Avino, Manuela (2014). "Interview with Colin Hodgkinson". bassmyfever.weebly.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017. 
  10. ^ "Interview:Nick Beggs (John Paul Jones,Steve Hackett,Steven Wilson,Kajagoogoo)". www.hit-channel.com. April 11, 2012. Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2017. Tony is one of the greatest musicians ever born. I am only glad that I was able to discover him when I did as he taught me so much about music. Yes I am a fan of Tony Levin. Isn’t everyone? 
  11. ^ De Pasquale, Luca; Avino, Manuela (2015). "Into the Magnum garden. Interview with AL BARROW". bassmyfever.weebly.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017. Q: Who are the bassists who have mostly influenced you while you were about to start your career as musician? [...]
    Al Barrow: [...] Tony Levin [...] I think right now one of my favourite players would be Tony Levin. he has a great way of making space work as well, as well as filling the tune with a huge bass tone. He plays many styles and seems to be able to give the song just what is required. [...]
     
  12. ^ Mailer, Dan (April 23, 2014). "Interview - Al Barrow (Magnum)". www.metal-temple.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017. 
  13. ^ Hartmann, Graham (March 16, 2013). "Between the Buried and Me Bassist Dan Briggs Talks 'The Parallax II,' Composing Music + More". Loudwire. Radio City Music Hall, New York City (published May 1, 2013). Archived from the original on May 3, 2013. Retrieved March 3, 2017. [...] For me, that method of finding a groove within a really dense riff comes from Tony Levin (King Crimson), who is one of my all-time favorite bassists. He was so good at, “Where is this groove coming from.” He was, first and foremost, just a really groove-y bass player and that’s something I’ve always tried to take [for myself]. [...] 
  14. ^ Cooper, Zachary (January 29, 2013). "Bassically speaking: Zachary Cooper". Bass Guitar. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2017. 
  15. ^ Beller, Bryan (February 11, 2011). "Jonathan Hischke On Being Game". Bass Player. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2017. 
  16. ^ Hill, Gary. "MSJ Chat Transcript Tony Levin from 2003". www.musicstreetjournal.com. Retrieved March 18, 2017. 

External links

This page was last modified 18.06.2018 03:07:10

This article uses material from the article Tony Levin from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.