Stan Levey
Jazz Heavyweight
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- $22.99
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
Stan Levey is widely considered to be one of the most influential drummers in the history of modern jazz. During his extraordinary career, the self-taught Levey played alongside a who’s who of twentieth century jazz artists: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Lester Young, Thelonius Monk, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald—the remarkable list goes on and on, and includes dozens of the most distinguished names in the annals of jazz and popular music.
Jazz Heavyweight follows the prolific and colorful life of Levey, from his childhood days in rough-and-tumble North Philadelphia as the son of a boxing promoter and manager with ties to the mob, to his first gig as a drummer for Dizzy Gillespie at the tender age of 16, through his meteoric rise as one of the most sought after sidemen in the world of bebop, to his membership in the Lighthouse All-Stars and his prominent role in the creation of West Coast Jazz.
Coinciding with his years anchoring the Lighthouse All-Stars, Levey recorded over two thousand tracks while doing session work with such vocalists as Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and Barbra Streisand. Levey ended his music career as a prolific player on literally thousands of motion picture and television show soundtracks under the direction of such legendary composers as Lalo Schifrin, Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, and Andre Previn.
Jazz aficionados will relish Jazz Heavyweight for its new, never-before-published information about such hugely influential musicians as Parker, Gillespie, and Davis, while jazz neophytes will find a fast-paced, colorful encapsulation of the entire history of modern jazz. Indeed, Jazz Heavyweight is essential reading for anyone seeking an up-close-and-personal look at jazz in the latter half of the twentieth century.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a straightforward style, Hayde (The Mafia and the Machine) tells the story of Stan Levey, a self-taught bebop drummer whose life is truly the stuff of legend. The tale, which opens a striking foreword by Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, concerns a scrappy Jewish kid of North Philadelphia, the child a mobbed-up boxing-manager father and a musically inclined mother who encouraged her son in his interests. His early years seem propelled by a desire to play the drums like nobody ever had, and his driving style provided a rhythmic backdrop for stars such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand. Levey boxed professionally for a time before Parker introduced him to drugs; the latter eventually led to a two-year stint in prison, which Hayde handles without sensationalism. Levey was a fixture among the Big Apple beboppers and a prime mover on the West Coast scene and Hollywood sessions, and Hayde's account of his exploits takes readers beyond jazz icons and celebrities into fascinating anecdotes, personal struggles, and a truly charmed life.