The early 1970s was an explosive time for pop music. Trade quotas were lifted on Japanese electronic products, and America was flooded with affordable component stereo systems. Stores helped you match a turntable to an integrated receiver and speakers based on your budget. If you didn't have the money, you could always go with a Japanese-made 8-track player with built-in speakers and an integrated receiver.
Appearing on all of those integrated receivers was an FM radio band, which for the first time allowed millions of Americans to tune in a wide range of local stations broadcasting in stereo. Full albums were often played, and an increased demand for music gave way to a growing number of record supermarket chains, featuring aisles of bins holding thousands of records in dozens of sections. The number of sub-genres of all types of music mushroomed to fill the bins.
Jazz suddenly included soul-jazz, jazz-funk, jazz fusion, jazz-rock, soft jazz and many other splinter forms. Enter guitarist O'Donel “Butch" Levy. Born in Baltimore, Md., in 1945, he studied at Johns Hopkins's Peabody Institute and then moved to New York. A jazz-funk and soul-jazz player, he toured with guitarist George Benson and organist Jimmy McGriff.
Levy's first album release as a leader was Black Velvet (Groove Merchant), a soulful jazz-pop album with a Latin-tinged funk-soul groove. The album featured O'Donel Levy (g), Billy Skinner (tp), Arthur 'Fats' Theus (ts,fl), Charles Covington (el-p,org), Alarza Lee Collins (b), Chester Thompson (d), Nathaniel Rice Jr. (congas) and William Thorpe (perc).
The tracks:
O'Donel Levy died in 2016 at age 70.
Here's Levy's complete Black Velvet, without ad interruptions. A special thanks to Tom Fine for the O'Donel Levy reminder...
Appearing on all of those integrated receivers was an FM radio band, which for the first time allowed millions of Americans to tune in a wide range of local stations broadcasting in stereo. Full albums were often played, and an increased demand for music gave way to a growing number of record supermarket chains, featuring aisles of bins holding thousands of records in dozens of sections. The number of sub-genres of all types of music mushroomed to fill the bins.
Jazz suddenly included soul-jazz, jazz-funk, jazz fusion, jazz-rock, soft jazz and many other splinter forms. Enter guitarist O'Donel “Butch" Levy. Born in Baltimore, Md., in 1945, he studied at Johns Hopkins's Peabody Institute and then moved to New York. A jazz-funk and soul-jazz player, he toured with guitarist George Benson and organist Jimmy McGriff.
Levy's first album release as a leader was Black Velvet (Groove Merchant), a soulful jazz-pop album with a Latin-tinged funk-soul groove. The album featured O'Donel Levy (g), Billy Skinner (tp), Arthur 'Fats' Theus (ts,fl), Charles Covington (el-p,org), Alarza Lee Collins (b), Chester Thompson (d), Nathaniel Rice Jr. (congas) and William Thorpe (perc).
The tracks:
- Watch What Happens
- Granny
- I'll Close My Eyes
- Nature's Child
- Love Story
- Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)
- I'll Be There
- Misty
- Call Me
- You've Made Me So Very Happy
O'Donel Levy died in 2016 at age 70.
Here's Levy's complete Black Velvet, without ad interruptions. A special thanks to Tom Fine for the O'Donel Levy reminder...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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