- Al Levitt
Alan "Al" Levitt (November 11, 1932,
New York City - November 28, 1994,Paris ) was an Americanjazz drummer.Levitt studied piano with
Moses Chusids inhigh school , and following this studied drums underIrv Kluger in 1949-50. In the early 1950s Levitt played withBarbara Carroll (1950),Chuck Wayne (1950-51),Charles Mingus (1951),Lennie Tristano (1952),Stan Getz (1953),Paul Bley (1954-55), andLee Konitz (1954-56). He moved toThe Netherlands in 1956, playing there withPia Beck ; after this he played inParis withSidney Bechet ,Rene Urtreger ,Allen Eager ,Martial Solal ,Guy Lafitte ,Stephane Grappelli , andBarney Wilen . After returning to the United States in 1958, he played withToshiko Akiyoshi (1958),Shirley Horn (1959),Scott LaFaro /Dick Haymes (1959-60),Ronnie Ball /Chris Connor (1960-61),Candido Camero (1962-63),Teddy Edwards (1964),Stella Levitt (1964 and subsequently; they were married),Georgie Auld (1965-66),Jackie Paris /Ann Marie Moss (1967),Lionel Hampton 1967-68), Chris Connor andDavid Allyn (1970), and Mingus again in 1972. In 1968 he recorded forESP-Disk along with his wife, a vocalist, and his son, a guitarist.In 1973 Levitt moved to the
Canary Islands ; he played withPedro Itturalde inSpain and led his own group. Moving to Paris again in 1975, he played in Europe withPeter Ind , Solal, Lafitte, Urtreger,Slide Hampton ,Warne Marsh , Konitz,Jimmy Raney ,Chet Baker ,Alan Jean-Marie (1978),Kai Winding andKenny Drew (1979),Sonny Stitt (1981), James Moody (1981),Horace Parlan (1984, 1986-87),Steve Grossman (1985),Benny Carter (1985), Kenny Drew andTeddy Edwards (1986-87), andDuke Jordan (early 1990s). He also co-led a group withNathalie Lorier .References
*
Leonard Feather andIra Gitler . "The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz". Oxford, 1999, p. 411.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.