When notified, Levy said, “I have been in attendance at the last three NEA Jazz Masters ceremonies and not in my wildest imagination did I expect to ever receive this most prestigious award. To be so honored for helping talented artists bring jazz and joy into the lives of audiences is the thrill of a lifetime.”
Levy, the great-grandson of Louisiana slaves, was born in New Orleans in 1912 and is considered to be the first black talent manager in jazz and popular music. He has made millions of dollars for his clients bringing them from sometimes-total anonymity to the rarefied atmosphere of success.
The vast and impressive roster of notables handled by John Levy over the past 50 years includes more than 85 artists, eight of whom are already NEA Jazz Masters: Betty Carter, Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Ahmad Jamal, Abby Lincoln, Billy Taylor, Joe Williams, and Nancy Wilson; and one more, Freddie Hubbard, who will join the ranks with him in 2006. Other notable clients on the Levy roster through the years include Cannonball Adderley, Ernie Andrews, Brook Benton, Randy Crawford, Roberta Flack, Arsenio Hall, Eddie Harris, Johnny Hartman, Henry Johnson, Etta Jones, Yusef Lateef, Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Mann, Letta Mbulu, Les McCann, Wes Montgomery, Billy Paul, Dianne Reeves, Marlena Shaw, George Shearing, Dakota Staton, Stanley Turrentine, Sarah Vaughan, and Maxine Weldon.
Levy began his jazz career as a bassist. In 1944, he left Chicago with the Stuff Smith Trio to play an extended engagement at the Onyx club on New York City’s 52nd Street. Over the next years, he was to play with many jazz notables, including Ben Webster, Buddy Rich, Errol Garner, and Milt Jackson (also a Jazz Master), as well as with Billie Holiday at her comeback performance at Carnegie Hall in 1948.
In 1949, George Shearing heard Levy play at Birdland with Buddy Rich’s big band and hired him for his own group, which featured Buddy DeFranco (yet another 2006 Jazz Master Fellow). As Levy toured the country playing with the original George Shearing Quintet, he gradually took on the role of road manager. Levy put aside performing in 1951 to become the group’s full-time manager, making music-industry history and establishing the career he would follow for the rest of his life. Levy is still active today as manager of the legendary song stylist Nancy Wilson and jazz vocalist Clairdee.
When “Men, Women, and Girl Singers” (Levy’s autobiography written by his wife, Devra Hall Levy) was published in 2001, Levy said, “I’d like to be remembered as someone who helped musicians and singers spread the love of jazz around the world.” It seems only fitting that the NEA honor him for that.
Initiated in 1982, the NEA Jazz Master title is the nation’s highest honor in this distinctively American art form. Levy is looking forward to joining his 2006 Fellows – Ray Barretto (percussionist), Tony Bennett (vocalist), Bob Brookmeyer (arranger-composer), Chick Corea (keyboardist), Buddy DeFranco (solo instrumentalist, clarinet), and Freddie Hubbard (solo instrumentalist, trumpet) – at the January 2006 awards ceremony in New York City.
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Editor’s Note:
JPEGS of John Levy are available for downloading at www. Lushlife.com, click on NEA JAZZ Master, off of main menu.
For more information about John Levy, visit www.lushlife.com.
For more information on NEA Jazz Masters, visit www.neajazzmasters.org
Press Information:
About John Levy – Regina Davis, Davis & Associates Public Relations.
Telephone: 626.356.1300 • Email: [email protected] or [email protected].
About NEA Jazz Masters – Victoria Hutter, National Endowment for the Arts
Telephone: 202.682.5692 • Email: [email protected]
For more information contact All About Jazz.
