Tony Levin

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For the jazz drummer, see Tony Levin (drummer) .
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Tony Levin
Tony Levin during a visit to Caracas (Venezuela), 1993.
Tony Levin during a visit to Caracas (Venezuela), 1993.
Background information
Born June 6, 1946 (1946-06-06) (age 62) in Boston, Massachusetts
Origin Rochester, NY
Genre(s) Progressive rock
Progressive metal
Experimental rock
Jazz fusion
Occupation(s) Musician
Instrument(s) bass guitar, Chapman Stick, tuba, double bass
Years active 1970 -
Associated acts King Crimson
Liquid Tension Experiment
Liquid Trio Experiment
Peter Gabriel
Bruford Levin Upper Extremities
Head
Website www.tonylevin.com
Notable instrument(s)
Chapman Stick
Music Man StingRay
Music Man Bongo

Tony Levin (born June 6, 1946, Boston, Massachusetts) is an American bass player. He has been a member of King Crimson, Bruford Levin Upper Extremities, Liquid Tension Experiment and Peter Gabriel's touring band, and leads his own Tony Levin Band. Levin is a session player who has played on hundreds of albums. He performs in the prog rock field, and has played with bands such as Pink Floyd, Yes and California Guitar Trio, in addition to mainstream artists such as Alice Cooper, John Lennon, Seal, Sarah McLachlan, Todd Rundgren, Cher, and Lou Reed among many others.

Tony 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).


Contents

[edit] Early life and education

Tony Levin was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in the suburb of Brookline. He began playing double bass at 10 years old. He primarily played classical music on the bass. 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.

[edit] Career

[edit] Overview

He has been a member of:

Levin has performed as a session player on hundreds of albums. He performs in the prog rock field, and has played with bands such as Pink Floyd, Yes (and splinter group Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe) and California Guitar Trio, in addition to mainstream artists such as Alice Cooper, John Lennon, Seal, Sarah McLachlan, Todd Rundgren, Cher, Paul Simon and Lou Reed among many others. Through the yeas 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.

In 1984 Tony released Road Photos, a collection of black & white photos taken during his travels with Crimson, Gabriel, Simon and others. Tony's brother, Pete Levin, is a New York keyboardist and writer who is best known for his work with Gil Evans. Back in the 70's, Tony and Pete collaborated with Steve Gadd in the comedy band The Clams. Some of the Clams's material may eventually be released, as previously stated by Levin. He has various solo albums (Waters of Eden, Pieces of the Sun), and a live Tony Levin Band album. In April, 2006 he released Resonator and launched a North American tour of the same name, which also travelled to Italy, Russia and Mexico.

[edit] 1970s-1980s

In 1970, Tony 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 1970's he played bass on many albums. In the late '70s, Tony joined Peter Gabriel's band. He had met Peter through producer Bob Ezrin (with whom Tony had recorded Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare, and Lou Reed's Berlin). Tony has played with Gabriel, both on the road and in the studio, since then. On that first Peter Gabriel album, Tony played tuba as well as bass, and directed a short barbershop quartet version of a song.

In these early years with Gabriel Tony 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, Tony 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, Tony 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.

Tony was part of King Crimson up until the 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). 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.

[edit] 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 Robert Fripp reinstated Levin as the bassist, although the band remained inactive until 2008. In August of 2008, Crimson will be doing five shows as a warm-up to a full tour. 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 will be performing with members of Dream Theater John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, and Jordan Rudess in a reformation of Liquid Tension Experiment.

[edit] Selected Discography

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

[edit] External links


v • d • e
King Crimson
Current members
Former members
Guest musicians
Studio albums
Singles and EPs
Live albums
Compilations
ProjeKcts
Related bands
See also