Tony Levin

Infobox musical artist
Name = Tony Levin


Img_capt = Tony Levin during a visit to Caracas (Venezuela), 1993.
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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name =
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Born = birth date and age|1946|6|6 in Boston, Massachusetts, US
Died =
Instrument = Bass, Chapman Stick, Tuba
Genre = Progressive rock, Progressive metal, Experimental rock
Occupation = Musician, Songwriter
Years_active = 1970 - present
Label =
Associated_acts = King Crimson, Liquid Tension Experiment, Peter Gabriel, Bruford Levin Upper Extremities, Head
URL = [http://www.tonylevin.com/ www.tonylevin.com]
Notable_instruments = Chapman Stick
Music Man StingRay
Music Man Bongo

Tony Levin (born June 6 1946, Boston, Massachusetts) is an American bass guitarist.

Levin is best-known [ [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kjftxqu5ld6e allmusic ((( Tony Levin > Overview ))) ] ] for his work with progressive rock pioneers King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. Has also been a member of Bruford Levin Upper Extremities, Liquid Tension Experiment and leads his own Tony Levin Band.

A prolific session musician since the 1970s, Levin has played on hundreds of albums, including those of John Lennon, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, Yes and Seal, Sarah McLachlan, The Roches, Todd Rundgren, and Cher. Additionally, he has toured with artists including Paul Simon (with whom Tony appeared in Simon's 1980 film "One Trick Pony"), Gary Burton, James Taylor, Herbie Mann, Goro Noguchi, Judy Collins, Joe Yamanaka, Carly Simon, Peter Frampton, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, Tim Finn, Richie Sambora, and Claudio Baglioni.

Levin helped to popularize the Chapman Stick and the NS upright bass. He has also created "funk fingers", a device for mimicking the sound of hitting the strings with drumsticks (which sounds similar to slap style bass).

Early life and education

Levin was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in the suburb of Brookline. He began playing double bass at 10 years old, primarily studying classical music. In high school, he learned tuba, soloing with the concert band and started a barbershop quartet.

After high school, he attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY and played in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Also at the school, he studied with drummer Steve Gadd. He traded in his Ampeg electric upright "Baby Bass" for a Fender Precision Bass.

Tony's brother, Pete Levin, is a New York keyboardist and writer who is best known for his work with Gil Evans. In the 1970s, Tony and Pete collaborated with Steve Gadd in the comedy band The Clams. Levin has stated that some of the Clams's material may eventually be released.

1970s-1980s

In 1970, Levin moved to New York City, joined a band called Aha, the Attack of the Green Slime Beast, with Don Preston of The Mothers of Invention. Soon after, he began working as a session musician, and through the 1970s he played bass on many albums. In 1976, Levin joined with Steve Gadd on drums to create the lush textures the two created on Andy Pratt's critically-acclaimed "Resolution" album that included other A-list studio musicians like Arif Mardin, Andy Newmark, Hugh McDonald, Luther Vandross and others. Allmusic.com and Rolling Stone Magazine rated this album as one of the best singer/songwriter albums of the 1970s. In the late '70s, Tony joined Peter Gabriel's band. He had met Gabriel through producer Bob Ezrin (with whom Tony had recorded Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare", and Lou Reed's "Berlin"). Levin has played with Gabriel, both on the road and in the studio, since then. On that first Peter Gabriel solo album, Levin played tuba as well as bass, and directed a short barbershop quartet version of a song.

In these early years with Gabriel, Levin developed his playing of the Chapman Stick. The song "Big Time", from Gabriel's "So" album, inspired the development of funk fingers, which are chopped off drumsticks used to hammer on the bass strings. Levin credits Gabriel with the idea, and Andy Moore, his tech at the time, with actually making them workable. In 1978, Levin moved to Woodstock, New York, to join the band L'Image, which included his old friend Steve Gadd, as well as Mike Mainieri and Warren Bernhardt. The band broke up after a year, and Tony stayed in Woodstock, where he still lives. On Peter Gabriel's first album, Levin met Robert Fripp and, in 1980, after having played on Fripp's solo album Exposure, he became a member of the '80s incarnation of King Crimson.

In 1989 Bruford asked Levin to play in Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, a splinter group of the band Yes. Because of the obvious emphasis on this being a band of former Yes members, Levin was never invited to become an official member, but played on ABWH's eponymous album, and also on Yes' 1991 album Union.

In 1984 Tony released "Road Photos", a collection of black & white photos taken during his travels with Crimson, Gabriel, Simon and others.

Tony was part of King Crimson up until the mid-1990s breakup of the "Double Trio" line-up of the band which consisted of Tony Levin, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Trey Gunn, Pat Mastelotto and Bill Bruford. Robert Fripp then reformed King Crimson as a quartet, without Levin and Bruford. Levin also took part in two of the post-breakup experimental sub-groups ProjeKct One (1997) and ProjeKct Four (1998).

1990s-2000s

In 1998, Levin and Bruford formed Bruford Levin Upper Extremities with trumpeter Chris Botti and guitarist David Torn; the group released albums in 1998 and 2000. Levin also continued producing albums with his own band, the Tony Levin Band. This bands consists of Jerry Marotta, Jesse Gress, Larry Fast and his brother, Pete Levin. In 1998, Levin teamed up with Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci, members of Dream Theater, as well as future Dream Theater keyboardist, Jordan Rudess for a project called Liquid Tension Experiment. The combo recorded two albums, "Liquid Tension Experiment" and "Liquid Tension Experiment 2" in 1998 and 1999 respectively. They also played some live shows in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, and will regroup in 2008 to play NEARfest, a popular progressive rock festival in Bethlehem, PA.

In 2004, Trey Gunn left King Crimson, and Fripp reinstated Levin as the bassist, although the band remained inactive until 2008. In August of 2008, Crimson played eleven shows in four cities. No new shows, nor other plans for recording, have been announced. In 2006, Levin released "Resonator" an album which features long time band mates Jerry Marotta, Jesse Gress, Larry Fast, with the addition of his brother Pete Levin. The album is the first to feature Levin's singing. 2007 saw the release of "Stick Man", an album of pieces recorded on the Chapman Stick. In 2008, Levin performed with members of Dream Theater John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, and Jordan Rudess in a reformation of Liquid Tension Experiment.

Selected Discography

Levin has played on hundreds of records as session musician or guest artist. The following records are those on which he is credited as a fully-contributing band member or composer.

* "Discipline" (1981) — King Crimson
* "Beat" (1982) — King Crimson
* "Three of a Perfect Pair" (1984) — King Crimson
* "Cloud About Mercury" (1986) — David Torn
* "Spin 1ne 2wo" (1993) — Spin 1ne 2wo
* "THRAK" (1995) — King Crimson
* "World Diary" (1995) — solo
* "Black Light Syndrome" (1997) — Bozzio Levin Stevens
* "From the Caves of the Iron Mountain" (1997) — Gorn, Levin, Marotta
* "Liquid Tension Experiment" (1998) — Liquid Tension Experiment
* "Bruford Levin Upper Extremities" (1998) — Bruford Levin Upper Extremities
* "Liquid Tension Experiment 2" (1999) — Liquid Tension Experiment
* "Waters of Eden" (2000) — solo
* "Situation Dangerous" (2000) — Bozzio Levin Stevens
* "B.L.U.E. Nights" (2000) — Bruford Levin Upper Extremities
* "Pieces of the Sun" (2002) — solo
* "Double Espresso" (2002) — solo
* "Resonator" (2006) — solo
* "Stick Man" (2007) — solo
* "Spontaneous Combustion" (2007) - Liquid Trio Experiment

References

External links

* [http://www.tonylevin.com/ Official Tony Levin Site]
* [http://www.blogtalkradio.com/runt/2007/12/20/special-guest-bassist-tony-levin Tony Levin audio interview on RundgrenRadio.com]
* [http://www.relayer35.com/Yescography/tonylevi.htm Tony Levin discography]
* [http://www.musicmirror.net/interview-tonylevin.htm Interview mit Tony Levin auf Deutsch (German Interview)]
* [http://www.musicmirror.net/interview-tonylevin2.htm Interview with Tony Levin in English]
* [http://www.papabear.com/pbtlff.htm Funk Fingers]
* [http://www.nedsteinberger.com/ NS electric double bass]
* [http://www.stick.com/ Chapman Stick]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/music/people/tony_levin.shtml BBC Blast interview with Tony Levin]
* [http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=9021 TONY LEVIN World Diary reviews and MP3]