Jazz Articles about Daniel Levin

Daniel Levin Quartet: Blurry

by Chris May
January 3, 2008

Though there's nothing remotely revivalist or retro about it, the music made by cellist Daniel Levin's drummerless quartet--glowing, lyrical, adventurous chamber jazz--resonates strongly with the first stirrings of free jazz circa 1960 and the third stream/cool experiments of the half-decade leading up to it. Like all the most successful post-modern creative ventures, Levin's quartet positions its antecedents in plain sight, but rises above them to create something novel, fascinating and unmistakably of its own time.

Blurry is the ...

Daniel Levin: Some Trees

by Donald Elfman
March 10, 2007

Cellist Daniel Levin expands the compositional and improvisational palettes of modern jazz on Some Trees with a provocatively assembled group of adventurous musicians and pieces. Without a drummer, this group is able to rethink the dynamics and dialectic of a “jazz" group and find new phrasing, spacing and modes of interaction.

All of the players contribute vitally to this “re-mix": trumpeter Nate Wooley makes all of his effects--half-valving, dirty muting, etc.--work towards finding the optimal colors; vibraphonist Matt Moran plays ...

Daniel Levin Quartet: Some Trees

by Nic Jones
October 17, 2006

This group sets out a highly individual stall within the market of creative improvised music, not simply through the use of unusual instrumentation--and to the extent that even when these musicians tackle compositions by Eric Dolphy, Steve Lacy and Ornette Coleman, they bring to them a refreshing depth of personal interpretation and expression.

Levin's own compositions might also have been written with this group in mind, so strong is their sense of identity. The balance, and indeed the creative tension, ...

Daniel Levin: Don't Go It Alone

by Celeste Sunderland
January 18, 2004

Contrasts flavor life. Growing shadows creeping across an expansive lawn add drama, slowly and deliberately, like a long note played deeply against the strings of a cello. Raindrops pound dry asphalt in summer, peaking the human senses like rapid spurts of a cornet against the heavy pulse of a bass. The Daniel Levin Quartet's Don't Go It Alone mirrors nature's abstract reactions and transforms them into music. By combining cello (Levin), cornet (Dave Ballou), vibraphone (Matt Moran), ...