Stan Levey, one of the greatest drummers of his generation, was born in Philadelphia in 1926. He was one of the very few white drummers involved in the formative years of bebop and accepted as one of bop's most important drummers, along with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach. He played in Philly with Dizzy Gillespie's group in 1942, at the tender age of 16. Soon after he went to New York, where he and Dizzy worked on 52nd Street with Charlie Parker and Oscar Pettiford. After his tenure with the Stan Kenton Orchestra in the early 1950's he moved to the west coast in 1954, joining Howard Rumsey and the Lighthouse All-Stars, and was a major influence in what was called "west coast jazz" or the "cool school". Levey's crisp, melodic style continued to have more in common with bop than cool, and he inspired every group he ever played in. Stan has played on over 2000 recordings. This short tribute to his life & music career contains many photographs and film clips taken from his DVD documentary "Stan Levey The Original Original". The music cut on this clip entitled "One For Joan", was recorded in June of 1957, is featured on the CD "Stan Levey/5" and is available for download on Amazon and iTunes. The musicians are Stan Levey drums, Richie Kamuca tenor sax, Conte Candoli trumpet, Lou Levy piano, and Monty Budwig bass. For more info about "Stan Levey The Original Original" dvd visit www.stanlevey.com. Produced by Stan Levey and Arthur Shelby Pritz. Directed by Arthur Shelby Pritz.

• published: 11 Apr 2008
• views: 12583