Tony Levin

This article covers the rock bassist Tony Levin, for the jazz drummer see Tony Levin (drummer)

Tony Levin (1993)

Tony Levin (left) at a Peter Gabriel concert in Kaiserslautern (2004)

Anthony Frederick "Tony" Levin (* 6. June 1946 in Boston , Massachusetts ) is a rock - bass player . He became known primarily in the field of progressive rock through his collaboration with Peter Gabriel , King Crimson and Yes .

Life

Levin grew up in the Boston suburb of Brookline . The younger brother of keyboardist Pete Levin began playing the double bass at the age of ten . In high school he played tuba , with which he even had some solos with the school band, and formed a barbershop band. His main interest, however, was in the classical area of ​​the piano , which he played for John and Jackie Kennedy at a performance of the Greater Boston Symphony Youth Orchestra on the White House lawn at the age of about 15 .

He then attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and played with the Rochester Philharmonic. At school he met Steve Gadd , who taught him to play jazz and rock at a higher level. He swapped his Ampeg baby bass for an old Fender Precision bass that was to remain his only instrument for a long time.

In 1970 Levin moved to New York City and joined a band called Aha, the Attack of the Green Slime Beast , which also featured Don Preston of The Mothers of Invention . Shortly thereafter, he began a career as a session musician and played during the 1970s on many albums the bass, including 1,975 in Still Crazy After All Those Years by Paul Simon , with whom he toured regularly from then until the early 80s. When Simon realized his One-Trick Pony project in 1980 , Levin was not only featured on the album, but also starred in the accompanying movie .

In 1978 Tony Levin moved to Woodstock , where he joined the band L'Image . The band, in which Steve Gadd , Mike Mainieri and Warren Bernhardt also played, split a year later.

In the late 1970s he joined the band Peter Gabriels , whom he had met through Bob Ezrin ; with Ezrin he recorded Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare and Lou Reeds Berlin . On Peter Gabriel's first album Levin played tuba . During the recording of this album Levin also met Robert Fripp and, after playing on his solo album Exposure in 1980, became a member of King Crimson , where he initially remained until the turn of the millennium. Since 2003 he has been part of the band again.

With King Crimson, from 1980 onwards, Levin developed into a virtuoso player of the so-called Chapman Stick in addition to the bass player . As a bass player, he first focused on the bass notes, but later also explored the guitar part of the instrument. Levin developed into one of the recognized artists on this musical instrument.

Levin recorded five solo albums, he recorded two more albums with the Tony Levin Band .

Collaboration with other artists

Levin is best known for his longstanding collaboration with Peter Gabriel. In the course of his career he played, in addition to the above, also u. a. with the following bands and musicians: Jeff Beck , Alice , Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe , Claudio Baglioni , California Guitar Trio , David Bowie , Jim Weider , John Lennon , King Crimson , Liquid Tension Experiment , Magellan , Mark Kostabi , Paul Simon , Pink Floyd , Seal , Steve Thorne , Terry Bozzio , Yes .

Discography

solo

• 1995 - World Diary
• 1997 - From the caves of the iron mountain
• 2000 - Waters of Eden
• 2002 - Pieces of the sun (with the Tony Levin Band)
• 2002 - Double Espresso (with the Tony Levin Band)
• 2006 - resonator
• 2007 - Stick Man

Bozzio Levin Stevens

• 1997 - Black Light Syndrome
• 2000 - Situation Dangerous

Liquid tension experiment

• 1998 - Liquid Tension Experiment
• 1999 - Liquid Tension Experiment 2

Bruford Levin Upper Extremities

• 1999 - BLUE Nights

Liquid Trio Experiment

• 2007 - Spontaneous Combustion

Stick men

• 2010 - Soup
• 2011 - Absalom
• 2012 - Open
• 2013 - Deep
• 2016 - Prog Noir

Levin Minnemann Rudess

• 2013 - Levin Minnemann Rudess
• 2016 - From The Law Offices Of Levin Minnemann Rudess

Levin Brothers

• 2014 - Levin Brothers
• 2017 - Special Delivery

Web links

Commons : Tony Levin  - Collection of Images

• Web presence
• Tony Levin on the baby blue pages
• Interview with Tony Levin in German (2006)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Stick Enterprises - Home of the Chapman Stick. Accessed March 31, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Dylan Cem Akalin: Interview with Tony Levin about King Crimson, his bass and stick playing and the humor of Robert Fripp | jazzandrock.com. Accessed March 30, 2020 (German).