Stan Levey is one of the unsung heroes of the world of jazz music. Starting as a drummer at the age of 16 in Philadelphia with Dizzy Gillespie, who dubbed him "the Original Original", he was an eyewitness to the birth of bebop music on 52nd St in NYC in the late 1940's. He tells fascinating tales of his playing days with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Kenton and the West Coast Cool school of music with the Lighthouse All-Stars in this series of short jazz documentaries featuring commentaries from such jazz greats as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, Charlie Watts, Hank Jones, Bill Holman, Lee Konitz, Howard Rumsey, Bill Henderson, Lalo Schifrin and many others. I sincerely hope that you enjoy these videos as much as I did making them and the wonderful comments provided by our viewers - Arthur Shelby Pritz.
Boy Stan seemed like kind of a hard ass. Maybe he was just annoyed as though he really didn't want to be bothered meeting Charlie Watts. Actually I think Levy was jealous of Charlie's wealth and fame. He seemed bitter. Notice how the video ended?
The best jazz documentary I've seen. The last thing there, Hank Jones saying how elegant these players were. I totally agree as I got to play with Ben Tucker and became friends with Yusef Lateef, Sam Rivers and others. These guys had a class about them. Also they had a mind that was beyond any personal ego . They had an elevated consciousness. Now I've played with lots of famous rock sidemen but there's too much ego, too much greed and selfishness with them. Even with so many of these college guys, they are all into drinking and pills. Just childish. Anyway, this video brought back a lot of great memories. I don't know, the future doesn't feel or look right to me. Gotta keep growing.
I miss my old friend Howard Rumsey, he opened the door introducing me to a lot of the guys. Stan Levey was kind to me as long as I didn't bug him too much haha. We were both Aries, right handed playing left handed ride. What times!!
oy vay Gypsy Rose Lee. . I guess that bullfighter blouse with ridiculously big hat look and a Lucille Ball face was considered hot stuff. Showing stockings, garters and panties. Wow. HOT STUFF!! How times have changed. Not sure which is more ridiculous and cringey. Karshadian Pam Anderson Paris Hilton straight up buck naked blowjob sleaze or the old strip tease.silly fan dance stuff.Jazz dudes! you used to have to play "the stripper" and "night train" for hours, for days to make a living. Even Tatum and Hanks Jones. Working for assholes, killers that would break your fingers and face if you gave em any lip. Italian, Jewish, German even DUTCH gangsters. the "good old days" yeah sure. Great stuff. thanks for posting.
I watched a Documentary about him and the start of bebop. It was narrarrated by Stan ,himself !! . Those Cool Cat's took young Stan in and the rest is history. He had a great career.
I just started watching this. I saw the wonderful doc about Charlie Watts and Stan Levy's time together a couple years ago. Now both of them are gone. Thanks for letting me find this film as well!
My mouth was agape through the entire video. I recognize each and every name because music historians and journalists noted these players in the late 70s and 80s and 90s. What I think I know - lucky enough to have Amiri Baraja as a musicology tutor once a week for 5 or 6 or 7 weeks - was confirmed here. I even recognized the name of the subject. Seeing and hearing Charlie Watts was the cherry on top. Seeing and hearing Miles Davis was Thanksgiving dinner.
Watching this film, I felt the soul of jazz. It's just a brief look at some of the musicians who transformed jazz back aways. I've been listening to jazz since the American Forces Network radio broadcasts in 1950; no universal music media then. Now, that exciting time has gone, as music taste changes with the passing generations...but, thanks to the mighty recording industry, all that world is with me now. My collection is like an old friend I visit frequently! Some artists like Charlie Parker I have played repeatedly over decades.......I simply do not tire of musical geniuses like Parker, Armstrong, Webster, Gillespie, Bud Powell, to name but a few....paradoxically..I love a bit of Progressive house!
The Christian god Jesus is Satan the devil and he is not coming back Christians worship Satan with a human sacrifice of Jesus to Satan You’ve been deceived Repent accept jahovah and do good works
I hope my Father is up there Smoking a Ft. Long Cuban. Listening to these guys all of whom he loved and taught me thru stories of their performances. RIP DAD
Priceless historical records of the jazz scene. Bebop. Amazing examples of human relationships in the era before woke and the rise of ignorance that got a voice. Thank goodness for this record.
im amazed they let a white drummer play w them although ive always suspected there was less black racism in those days than now. i wonder y benny goodman fired him?
OMG! Fantastic cannot begin to describe this gig. I shall repeat with oen and paper to take notes ad I did when I first saw Ken Burn's Jazz documentary when Napster first came out. Man oh man what a fabulous jazz education that way baby! So here we go again 30 years later and I now own a bar and restaurant where this music really helps us swing and sell good food and booze and good times. God bless the greats of jazz and thank you so much for your beautiful contribution to the world of music and my success as a restaurantuer.
It appears that this was made in 2004 (timely since Stan Levey passed away in 2005). Thank you @TubeworksVideoChannel for uploading this superb documentary.
I became familiar with Stan Levey on a two record set of Stan Getz and his quartet at Storyville in Boston, which George Wein operated. I think that the date was 1951. The set was called "The Stan Getz Years". I purchased it as a very young drummer in the early 1970s. The tempo on "Parker '51" was extremely fast, and I immediately respected his endurance. It's a great collection of songs if you can find it... at all tempos.
This is such a valuable film. Already 23 years old. I was unaware of Stan’s key role in the those early days. I’m reading Miles’ autobiography and Stan gets (the autocorrect wants to write Getz!) a lot of mentions. My first real sense of Stan was with Getz, Mulligan, Lou Levy and Leroy Vinnegar. So I had Stan nailed as a West Coast player. I should have looked more closely at the personnel! My favourite of Stan’s anecdotes is the Billie Holiday one, despite the hustle of 52nd st, when Lady Day stepped into that pinhole light… Fantastic.
Man....Los Angeles to New York onna 4-prop being beaten around 20 hrs...you think crappy seats for yer fat ass for 4 hrs sucks, try riding a motorcycle for 5 hrs between states then bitch about your backs and sore asses....Oh, yer sleepy and can't go to work....AGGGGH!
