ROOF GARDEN JASS BAND
and his Anachronists
SEVEN SONS OF ROSY
and the
APEX PROJECT
featuring Molly Ryan
ALL STARS
and his
CANARY COTTAGE DANCE ORCHESTRA
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DAN LEVINSON'S
ROOF GARDEN JASS BAND |
   Photos: Peter Karl Click on photos to enlarge. |
| DAN LEVINSON'S
SEVEN SONS OF ROSY During a career than spanned eight decades, James Eugene "Rosy" McHargue (1902-1999) was known and respected as a clarinetist, arranger, singer of novelty songs, and as a brilliant performer on the rarely heard C-melody saxophone. In his later years he became a friend and mentor to aspiring young musicians such as Dan Levinson, to whom he bequeathed a trunk full of arrangements, many of which had never been recorded. In honor of Rosy's 100th birthday, Dan produced a recorded tribute to his mentor, using musicians Rosy knew and respected. Where the Morning Glories Grow: A Centennial Remembrance of Rosy McHargue, released in 2002 on the Loup-garous label, is a loving testimonial to the man and his music--novelty songs, hot jazz stomps, and tender, heart-wrenching tales of lost love--all arranged by Rosy and recorded for the first time. Some of the songs include the barbershop harmony vocals--sung by members of the ensemble--that made Rosy's band distinguishable from all the others. Dan has augmented the repertoire of the Seven Sons of Rosy by adding numbers Rosy performed with his outstanding band in the 1950s, Rosy McHargue's Ragtimers. The Seven Sons of Rosy have appeared at the Bickford Theatre in Morristown, New Jersey, the Hot Steamed Jazz Festival in Essex, Connecticut, and for three consecutive years at the Orange County Classic Jazz Festival in Southern California. They are a truly unique group, a tasty blend of spirited, freewheeling traditional jazz and sentimental, dreamy melodies that will stay with you long after the dance has ended. Back to Top |
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| DAN LEVINSON and the
APEX PROJECT Though "The Apex Project" would seem to indicate some highly classified, top-secret government conspiracy straight out of "The X Files," there is no mystery surrounding this truly exciting musical aggregation. Reedman Dan Levinson and his protégé Pete Martinez organized the six-piece ensemble in 2001 to celebrate the music of clarinet virtuoso Jimmie Noone, whose Apex Club Orchestra dominated the music scene of Chicago's South Side in the late 1920s. Noone's band, which featured the great Earl Hines on piano, was unique in that its front line consisted solely of clarinet and alto sax. The band's popularity was so phenomenal that the Apex Club became a haven for jazz musicians, attracting such legendary figures as Benny Goodman, Eddie Condon, Frank Teschemacher, and Louis Armstrong. Dan Levinson and the Apex Project have appeared frequently at Terra Blues in Greenwich Village and at the Hot Steamed Jazz Festival in Essex, Connecticut. Back to Top |
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| THE
MANHATTAN HOT CLUB
Jazz manouche—literally “gypsy jazz”—is the name given to a kind of music born in France in the early 1930s. But for the huge mass of devoted performers and followers throughout the world today, it’s more than a kind of music—it’s a way of life; it’s a religion. The Lord and Master of jazz manouche was Django Reinhardt, a gypsy born in Belgium in 1910. He began playing guitar when he was very young, but at the age of eighteen, his left hand was severely burned when his caravan caught on fire. His third and fourth fingers were deformed and virtually useless. When he finally began performing again, he emerged a better guitar player than he was before the accident. The violinist Itzhak Perlman once said, “You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.” In 1934 Django began a series of recordings with a group called the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. These recordings have become the foundation for a massive legacy of Django aficionados throughout the world. Clarinetist Dan Levinson was bitten by the Django bug while living in Paris in the early 1990s, and since then has been searching for opportunities to play jazz manouche in New York. In 2004 he met guitarist Tom Landman and the two of them organized the Manhattan Hot Club. Since then, the group has been making Django’s music accessible to the New York audience through their monthly appearances at Terra Blues in Greenwich Village.Back to Top |
Photo: Jazz at Lincoln Center
Staff Member
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| DAN LEVINSON
and his Anachronists A·nach·ro·nist (n.) One out of harmony with his own time Although clarinetist/saxophonist/vocalist Dan Levinson has earned his reputation performing hot jazz of the teens, twenties and thirties, his real love is for the songs of that era. Many of those songs are still remembered today, but so many others are utterly forgotten. Over the past two decades, Dan has amassed a substantial collection of forgotten musical gems from the early twentieth century-buried treasures from the past that he feels deserve to be heard. Dan may be out of harmony with the musical styles of today, but he is most definitely in harmony with the music in his heart. His passion for that music shines in every breath he takes and in every note he plays. Back to Top |
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| THE BIX CENTENNIAL ALL STARS Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke was one of the greatest jazz soloists of all time. After his premature death in 1931 at the age of 28, he became the first and most enduring jazz legend. His crystal-clear sound, melodic conception and driving, inventive solos inspired the likes of Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby, Hoagy Carmichael, Bobby Hackett, and Lester Young. Louis Armstrong said of Beiderbecke, "Every note he blew was so beautiful…he was a born genius." His short and tragic life, lived at full tilt in the roaring '20s, inspired the book Young Man with a Horn, later made into a film starring Kirk Douglas. In honor of Beiderbecke's 100th birthday, concert promoter Doug LaPasta commissioned Dan Levinson and premier jazz cornetist Peter Ecklund to write new arrangements of some Beiderbecke's classic numbers. With a stellar 12-piece ensemble including cornet kings Randy Sandke, Jon-Erik Kellso and Randy Reinhart, along with Dan Barrett, Scott Robinson, Dan Levinson, Mark Shane, Howard Alden, Vince Giordano, Greg Cohen, Joe Ascione, and others, Mr. LaPasta produced a superb recorded tribute to Beiderbecke entitled Celebrating Bix. Released on the Arbors Jazz label in 2003, the CD has rapidly gained critical acclaim worldwide. Highlights include the three-cornet harmonizations of Beiderbecke's solos, scored by Mr. Ecklund. The Bix Centennial All Stars have appeared at the Wildflower Music Festival in Pennsylvania and in concert in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Selections from Celebrating Bix were performed at the JVC jazz festival's centennial tribute to Beiderbecke in 2003. Back to Top |
Click on photos to enlarge. |
| DAN LEVINSON’S PALOMAR QUARTET featuring Molly Ryan In 1935 Benny Goodman began performing with a trio consisting of Teddy Wilson on piano and Gene Krupa on drums. The following year he added Lionel Hampton on vibes. This landmark quartet paved the way for two major breakthroughs in American music: the birth of small group swing and the integration of African American musicians into white bands. Today the music of the Benny Goodman Quartet is as fresh and exciting as it was seventy years ago. With the brilliant, Wilsonesque flourishes of pianist Mark Shane, the virtuosic mallet work of 19-year-old vibes prodigy Matt Hoffmann, and the hard-driving intensity of drummer Kevin Dorn, each member Dan Levinson’s Palomar Quartet channels his counterpart in the Goodman group with the skill and authenticity of a true follower. Molly Ryan evokes the elegant sounds of Goodman vocalists Helen Ward and Martha Tilton with such an uncanny flair that she sounds as though she stepped out of a time machine. This dazzling little group, which in its relatively short existence has already performed for sellout audiences in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida, proves that music doesn’t have to be loud to swing. Back to Top |
Click on photos to enlarge. |
| DAN LEVINSON and his
CANARY COTTAGE DANCE ORCHESTRA The Canary Cottage Dance Orchestra is Dan Levinson's newest ensemble, a six-piece unit consisting of violin, C-melody saxophone, trombone, piano, banjo, and drums. This unique group is devoted exclusively to "rag-a-jazz," a hybrid style of dance music that existed briefly from the mid teens through the early twenties, while ragtime was evolving into jazz. Modeled after a little known group called the Frisco Jazz Band--the first jazz band to record for the Edison label--the Canary Cottage Dance Orchestra's spirited repertoire includes one-steps, two-steps, fox-trots, waltzes, and other dances popular at the dawn of jazz. Their debut CD, Crinoline Days, was released on the Stomp Off label in April. Back to Top |
Click on photo to enlarge. |
| DAN LEVINSON and his SUMMA CUM LAUDE ORCHESTRA In 1939 tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman, one of the creators of the "Chicago Jazz" style, began fronting guitarist Eddie Condon’s band at Nick’s, a well-known jazz club in Greenwich Village. He renamed the group the Summa Cum Laude Orchestra, and over the next nine months made some of the swingingest records in the history of small group jazz. Valve trombonist Brad Gowans wrote arrangements for the band, producing a perfect blend of written harmony and loose, freewheeling jazz. Alas, the Summa Cum Laude’s existence was all too brief. Dan Levinson picks up where Bud Freeman left off: he has reconstructed the band’s original library, and along with an all-star lineup infuses the music with new life. This is Chicago Jazz at its absolute finest. |
Photo: Bruce Gast Click on photo to enlarge.
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