Stan Levey
with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars
1958

Stan Levey...

Stan Levey, one of the strongest drummers of his generation, was born in Philadelphia in 1926. As a youngster, he showed promise as a boxer, and considered it briefly as a career, but music won out. He played in Philly with Dizzy Gillespie's group in 1942, at the tender age of 17. Soon after, he went to New York, where he and Dizzy worked on 52nd Street with Charlie Parker and Oscar Pettiford. He went on to play on over 1400 recordings and work with most of the big names in the music business at that time. For example: (this is the short list)

Instrumentalists: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Errol Garner, Miles Davis, George Shearing, Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Zoot Simms, Stan Getz, John Lewis, Ray Brown, Sonny Stitt, Barney Bigard, Gerry Mulligan, Vince Guaraldi, Lee Konitz, Bud Shank, Charlie Ventura, Scott LaFaro, Victor Feldman, Art Pepper, Charlie Barnett

Big Bands: Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Quincy Jones, Georgie Auld, Charlie Ventura, Boyd Reaburn, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Skitch Henderson "The Tonight Show Band"

Singers: Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Gary Crosby, Pat Boone, Barbara Streisand, The Supremes, Vic Damone, Nancy Wilson, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughn, etc. etc.

Over 300 Motion Pictures under: Lalo Schiffren, Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, Andre Previn, and many others.

T.V. Shows: Over 3000 TV shows, weekly episodes: Bat Man, Mission Impossible, Mannix, Munsters, Addams Family, etc.

He also made several albums with his own quintet, and an Album with good friend Max Roach entitled "Drumming the Blues".

Stan Levey retired from the Music Business in 1973. His last musical job was composing and conducting five movies for the Disney Corp. (Philip Abbot Director and producer.) These were educational films, one hour each.

He played with all his heroes and he was satisfied when he stopped playing.

His long time hobby of photography became his new way of making a living and like everything he touched, he did well. He currently lives in southern
California, where he runs a successful photography business. He still trains everyday. As he puts it, "I still do my roadwork."

Stan quietly passed away on Tuesday April 19, 2005.

STAN LEVEY:
Most of Levey's recorded work was as a sideman, though a great outing he recorded as a leader in 1957 is once again available on the VSOP label, entitled "Stan Levey Quintet." Examples of his drumming with a large number of groups of all sizes are hard to find, and include works with Shorty Rogers ("Portrait of Shorty" and "Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers, both from 1957 on the RCA label), with Bill Harris on "Bill Harris and Friends" (1957: Fantasy label ) and on "Stan Getz Meets Gerry Mulligan" (1957: Verve label).

Levey could, as they say, "cut a Vegas show" better than anyone, and a great example of this can be heard on "Peggy Lee Live At Basin Street" from 1960 on the Capitol label. Among the earliest and most important of Levey's work as a pioneering be-bopper with Charlie Parker is something called "Yardbird in Lotus Land" (1945-1946: Spotlite label).

Check out:
Stan Levey "The Original Original DVD"
A New Jazz Documentary DVD Video About Jazz Bop Pioneer Drummer Stan Levey From StanArt Productions...

Bebop pioneer jazz drummer Stan Levey takes you on a musical journey from the birth of bebop, through the Big Band jazz era, to the "west coast, cool school" of modern jazz music.

Stan Levey, one of the premiere storytellers in Ken Burns' "Jazz" documentary, tells fascinating tales of his days with the famed Parker/Gillespie group on 52nd Street in New York and his being the driving force of the Stan Kenton Orchestra and Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars. The commentaries are told along with music, film clips and photographs of many jazz greats captured by world famous photographers William Claxton and Herman Leonard, and include many never before seen photographs from Stan's own personal collection.

Also included are special appearances from Stan's friends and colleagues: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Watts, Quincy Jones, Hank Jones, Bill Holman, Lee Konitz, Howard Rumsey, Terry Gibbs, Bill Henderson, Lalo Schifrin, and many more, including some very special observations from Charlie "Bird" Parker himself.

NTSC COLOR/113 MINS.

...more information and order: here

Freddie Gruber - Louie Bellson - Stan Levey

Stan Levey - Charlie Watts












Stan and his wife Angela

Max Roach - Stan Levey



Stan Levey - Stan Kenton









Shelly Manne - Dizzy Gillespie - Stan Levey

...about Stan Levey:

STAN LEVEY (born 1925): Levey, a left-hander, was one of the very few white drummers involved in the formative years of be-bop and accepted as one of bop's most important drummers, along with Clarke and Max Roach. He joined Charlie Parker's group as early as 1944 and played with the famed Parker/Gillespie group a year later. He moved to the west coast in 1954, joining the Howard Rumsey group shown here, and was a major figure 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. Sadly, for the music world, he retired from drumming in the late 1960s to devote his creative energies to photography.

Most of Levey's recorded work was as a sideman, though a great outing he recorded as a leader in 1957 is once again available on the VSOP label, entitled "Stan Levey Quintet." Examples of his drumming with a large number of groups of all sizes are hard to find, and include works with Shorty Rogers ("Portrait of Shorty" and "Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers, both from 1957 on the RCA label), with Bill Harris on "Bill Harris and Friends" (1957: Fantasy label ) and on "Stan Getz Meets Gerry Mulligan" (1957: Verve label). Levey could, as they say, "cut a Vegas show" better than anyone, and a great example of this can be heard on "Peggy Lee Live At Basin Street" from 1960 on the Capitol label. Among the earliest and most important of Levey's work as a pioneering be-bopper with Charlie Parker is something called "Yardbird in Lotus Land" (1945-1946: Spotlite label).

Dr. Bruce H. Klauber