Jazz Articles about Tony Levin

About Tony Levin

Album Review

For a band that reinvents itself every decade or so, King Crimson has always treated New York as something closer to a proving ground than a tour stop. The city runs through the group's history, from the 1969 Fillmore East debut through the Larks' era sendoff at Central Park in 1974, six nights at the Savoy in 1981, later singled out as a high point, and a 2008 stand at the Nokia Theatre that marked drummer Gavin Harrison's arrival in ...

Album Review

Mark Wingfield: The Gathering

Read "The Gathering" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 17, 2025

Mark Wingfield's The Gathering is not for the faint of heart or those who prefer their music neatly categorized. This is not background music--it is a sonic assault course demanding your full attention. Wingfield, a British guitar hero who clearly enjoys pushing boundaries, has assembled a supergroup of instrumentalists who seem to be having as much fun defying expectations as creating them. Gary Husband, a musical chameleon who switches from delicate piano to thunderous drums in the blink of an ...

Liner Notes

Quartet Diminished: Deerand

by Mark Sullivan
December 15, 2024

Deerand is a Persian term which means “duration" of instrument's tones. Quartet Diminished was established in Iran in 2013 by guitarist Ehsan Sadigh. This is their fourth album, following Station Three (Hermes Records, 2021). Their music is stylistically diverse, drawing freely from contemporary jazz, art rock, and avant-garde music. The membership has been relatively stable. Sadigh (electric guitar) has had bandmates Soheil Peyghambar (woodwinds), Mazyar Younesi (piano, voice), and Rouzbeh Fadavi (drums) on most of the group's albums. ...

Radio & Podcasts

Usein Bekirov, Andrew Renfro, Jizue, The Aristocrats and David Preston

by Len Davis
September 13, 2024

New music from Ukranian pianist Usein Bekirov, New York drummer Andrew Renfro, Japanese band Jizue, and pianist Bill Laurence. Bassist Tony Levin, percussionist Gary Musznski, The Aristocrats, Polish band EABS, and London guitarist David Preston. Playlist Usein Bekirov “Breeze" from Freeway (TLSG Digital) 00:00 Andrew Renfro “Calls" from Primordial (Self Produced) 05:27 Jizue “Republic" from Lotus (Victor) 10:54 Bill Laurence “Ju Ju" from Rhodes MK 8 Sessions (Flint) 16:21 Tony Levin “Bringing It Down To The Bass" from ...

Album Review

Elton Dean: Elton Dean's Unlimited Saxophone Company

Read "Elton Dean's Unlimited Saxophone Company" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
June 2, 2024

A vitally important platform for apartheid-era expatriate South African musicians, Ogun Records was founded in London in 1973 by the bassist Harry Miller, then in self-exile from South Africa, and his wife, Hazel Miller. Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo were among those recording with Ogun in the 1970s under their own names or as members of bands such as Isipingo and McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath. Alongside the South Africans, and often performing with them, ...

Album Review

Rachel Z: Sensual

Read "Sensual" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
March 28, 2024

Whatever her impetus--be it the loss of her parents or peans to a shared sense of hearth, home and heaven--pianist/composer Rachel Z's thirteenth full length album, Sensual, bares a sincere, hopeful humanity. Buoyed by a sense of survival, Sensual opens as if it were a letter, closing with the Foo Fighters' crotch-kick raise-the-roof-'n-rile-'em-up “These Days." Sensual pulls one in fast and fully with the keenly seductive opener, “Save My Soul." It dances. It stirs. Z, whose ...

Extended Analysis

A Supreme Love

by Duncan Heining
July 10, 2023

Alan Skidmore is one of the finest saxophonists to come out of the United Kingdom, Europe or indeed anywhere. In fact, it was hearing Skidmore's tenor solo on “Have You Heard?" from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (Decca, 1966) that encouraged a young Michael Brecker to take up the instrument. Skidmore had also served his apprenticeship with blues singer Alexis Kornerin the sixties and by the end of the decade was equally well-versed in the blues and in the ...