With DEACON BLUES Pete Levin returns to the cutting edge as a bandleader, while tipping his hat to his mainstream jazz roots. Expanding on the traditional organ trio format, his innovative arrangements are flavored with soul, samba and hip-hop grooves. The set mixes four Levin originals with his unique treatments of familiar classics, including Steely Dan’s DEACON BLUES, Ralph Towner’s ICARUS, the Beach Boys’ SAIL ON SAILOR and Erik Satie’s FIRST GYMNOPEDIE. The album features outstanding performances by bassist Tony Levin, guitarist Mike DeMicco, percussionists Ken Lovelett and Carlos Valdez, legendary jazz guitarist Joe Beck, and drummer, Danny Gottlieb. For Levin, this recording was a labor of love. “The Hammond Organ has such a rich history. There’s really no other sound quite like it. Even the best synth simulations fall short. You crank up the motor, you hit a note, and it sings to you. It’s like the soul of every organ player is being breathed out from the instrument,” he declares.

Always on the cutting edge and looking for new challenges, Pete currently tours playing piano and organ with The Tony Levin Band, his brother’s high octane Progressive Rock quintet that plays worldwide to sold out houses. Plans are in the works for double bill concerts with Pete's trio opening for the Tony’s band in a historic pairing that aims to fire up legions of crossover music fans, as Tony's fiery progressive rock is paired with Pete's contemporary, improvisational jazz.

Produced by: PETE LEVIN
Recorded by: PETE LEVIN and TOM MARK at SONART STUDIO, MT. TREMPER, NY
Mixed and Mastered by: CYNTHIA DANIELS at MONK MUSIC, EAST HAMPTON, NY
Executive producer: JANA HERZEN
A&R direction: SUZI REYNOLDS
Design: KAITLIN DOORLEY
Cover photograph: DION OGUST

Pete Levin - Hammond Organ
Joe Beck - Guitar
Mike DeMicco - Guitar
Danny Gottlieb - Drums
Tony Levin - Bass
Ken Lovelett - Percussion, Drums
Carlos Valdez - Percussion

Downbeat Magazine
May 2007
by Ken Micallef

Synth specialist Pete Levin has veered into organ territory.  The New York artist has a serious keyboard resume (playing with the likes of John Scofield, Miles Davis and Gil Evans), so you'd expect him to lay down some real grease and gravy on Deacon Blues, his first album to embrace the Hammond B-3.   Levin and company play it cool for much of the album, but when the group catches fire, as on "Dragonfly" and "Uptown," Deacon Blues glows with purpose.  Drummer Danny Gottlieb floats like a bee on the circuitously flammable "Dragonfly," which also features some of Levin's best B-3 work, and everyone smokes on "Uptown," a classic organ trio cooker.  The date's a mixed bag, but one that offers some moments of white-knuckled heat.

jazzreview.com
april 2007
by Thomas R. Erdmann

Keyboardist and synthesist Pete Levin is one of the more interesting musicians working today. On Deacon Blues, Levin’s ninth recording as a leader, Levin performs solely on the Hammond B-3, rocking immediately and throughout.  From the opening of the first tune, a workout of Donald Fagan’s “Deacon Blues,” to the last note of the standard “Mean To Me,” Levin and his cohorts not only don’t stop to take prisoners, they run roughshod over the terrain leaving behind burned out husks of life where their path tread.  On each and every tune, all the musicians just as supportive and hard-driving as the leader.  On the guitar chair, Beck is more percussive and punctuating in his guitar style and matches Levin precisely on “Deacon Blues” and Ralph Towner’s “Icarus,” while DeMicco seeks to splash more with extended chordal layering, each to brilliant effect.  With the addition of the drummers and percussionists, who serve to work up an astounding implosive drive on each and every tune, there just isn’t a bad cut on the disc.

goodsound.com
March 1, 2007
By Shannon Holliday

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Keyboardist Pete Levin breaks new ground in this release, highlighting his skills on Hammond B-3 organ. He is abetted by a talented selection of musicians that includes guitarists Joe Beck and Mike DeMicco; Levin’s bassist brother, Tony; percussionists Carlos Valdez and Ken Lovelett; and drummer Danny Gottlieb. The contemporary jazz produced by this group is exploratory and improvisational.  Deacon Blues is one album to turn up loud and listen to in awe -- at a group of jazz masters having fun.

Daily Freeman
Kingston, NY
March, 2007
by David Malachowski

Venerable musician Pete Levin has played with a dizzying array of superstars, but with Deacon Blues, he has a lot to say himself, and we should all stop and listen.  Bringing in the heavy­hitter soloists certainly makes this outing a real treat, but make no mistake, Levin is never overshadowed here, he in fact is the reason why the others are able to soar, and he does himself time and again.  A true master musician, Levin is never shackled by genre or form, if he thinks it, he can play it. But Deacon Blues is a real jazz record and all you have to do is listen, and smile.

Pete Levin

In a diverse music career spanning several decades, keyboardist/arranger Pete Levin has performed and recorded with hundreds of Jazz and Pop artists - including Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Miles Davis, David Sanborn, Lenny White, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Robbie Robertson and John Scofield - receiving critical accolades for his work during a 15 year association with the legendary Gil Evans, and his 8 year stint with jazz icon Jimmy Giuffre.

While playing French Horn with the Gil Evans Orchestra in the early 70s, Levin brought a Moog Synthesizer to a gig at New York’s Village Vanguard. Already known as a “go to” synthesizer specialist, Pete was at the vanguard of that technology. Gil loved it and Levin’s role was permanently changed as the band transformed itself into the electric/acoustic hybrid ensemble that captivated audiences worldwide for years, winning two Grammy® awards along the way.

An in-demand New York session keyboardist, Levin has also created electronic realizations for hundreds of TV commercials, dramatic series and feature films, including “Missing in Action,” “Lean on Me,” “Silver Bullet,” “Red Scorpion,” “The Color of Money,” “Maniac,” “Spin City,” “America’s Most Wanted” and “Star Trek.” In a dizzying array of unrelated commissions, Levin composed orchestral scores for the feature film “Zelimo” and for a stage production of “The Dybbuk;” had the honor of composing the anthem for the 1992 United Nations Earth summit, “The Future is in Our Hands,” performing it twice for the U.N. General Assembly; and, as far removed from Jazz as it gets, was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for writing the official military band arrangement of the U.S. Infantry song.

But Levin, whose wry sense of humor is never far from the surface, reveals that his all time favorite recording session produced the top-40 hit single “Close to You” by The Clams, a Spike Jones tribute band formed with his brother, bassist Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson), drummer Steve Gadd (Eric Clapton, Paul Simon) and Grammy® winning recording engineer Dixon Van Winkle (Paul McCartney, Frank Sinatra). Thirty years later the recording is still a cult classic.

In 1990, Levin signed with Gramavision to release his first solo jazz album, “Party in the Basement,” followed by “Solitary Man” in 1991. Collaborating with drummer Danny Gottlieb, Pete released “The New Age of Christmas” on Atlantic and “Masters in this Hall” for Gramavision. In the years following, he released four New Age CDs for Alternate Mode Productions, and a variety of eclectic albums for independent labels.

With “Deacon Blues,” Pete Levin returns to the cutting edge as a band leader, while tipping his hat to his mainstream jazz roots. Expanding on the traditional organ trio format, his innovative arrangements are flavored with soul, samba and hip-hop grooves. The set mixes four Levin originals with his unique treatments of familiar classics, including Steely Dan’s “Deacon Blues,” Ralph Towner’s “Icarus,” the Beach Boys’ “Sail on Sailor” and Erik Satie’s “First Gymnopedie.” The album features outstanding performances by bassist Tony Levin, guitarist Mike DeMicco, percussionists Ken Lovelett and Carlos Valdez, legendary jazz guitarist Joe Beck, and drummer, Danny Gottlieb. For Levin, this recording was a labor of love.

Veteran career side men and solo recording artists, both Levin brothers produce their own albums close to home, collaborating with other world-class musicians in their Woodstock, New York community. Pete’s Hammond is featured on Tony’s latest critically acclaimed Narada release, “Resonator,” while Tony’s basses grace several tracks on Pete’s “Deacon Blues.”

Pete currently tours playing piano and organ with The Tony Levin Band, his brother’s high octane Progressive Rock quintet that plays world-wide to sold out houses. Plans are in the works for double bill concerts with Pete’s trio opening for the Tony’s band in a historic pairing that aims to fire up legions of crossover music fans, as Tony’s fiery progressive rock is paired with Pete’s contemporary, improvisational jazz.

All content on this web site © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Woodstock CD, Inc.
All recordings on this site are the property of the individual copyright owners.
Audio, images and graphics from the recordings are used on this website by
specific agreement and with the permission of the copyright owners.
Unauthorized reproduction in any form is prohibited by law.