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Heavy World
Howard Levy
Label: Balkan Samba Records
Released: 2026
Duration: 00:53:24
Views: 147
Tracks
Niccolò's Notion; Are You There?; Yu Pei's Smile; Taking Flight; Eliyahu HaNavi / Dayenu; Amazing Grace; Triptych; The Swan; Nervous Squirrel; Any Questions?; Danny Boy; Zion Hört Die Wächter Singen
Personnel
Howard Levy
harmonicaAdditional Personnel / Information
Howard Levy: piano, keyboards, diatonic harmonica, dumbek, frame drums, ocarina, miscellaneous percussion.
Album Description
Heavy World features twelve solo pieces spanning original compositions, improvisations, and unexpected interpretations. Seven are originals—four composed works and three improvisations—while the remaining pieces draw from classical music, Jewish tradition, Christian hymnody, and Irish music. The album flows freely through jazz, blues, classical music, gospel, folk traditions, and more.
Among its centerpieces is Levy's first studio recording of “Amazing Grace,” an arrangement that travels through gospel, jazz improvisation, and reggae before reaching a climax in which the diatonic harmonica takes on the character of bagpipes. “Niccolò's Notion” is Levy’s original perpetual-motion showpiece for diatonic harmonica, inspired by Paganini’s Moto Perpetuo and conceived to push his own playing to the edge of what seems physically possible on the instrument. Its relentless speed, chromaticism, and continuous motion demand a level of control more commonly associated with virtuoso classical instruments than a ten-hole harmonica. Levy describes it as the first perpetual-motion piece written specifically for diatonic harmonica.
The title is personal as well: HEAVY WORLD is an anagram of HOWARD LEVY.
Album uploaded by Howard Levy
