The Alex Levin Trio

By: Edward Blanco

New York-based pianist and composer, Alex Levin is another one of the fine young talented players around blazing his own unique trail on the jazz scene of today. Releasing his second CD within two years, A Reason for Being Alone is a dynamic new album of fresh new material in the contemporary jazz mode played with grace and elegance.


Joining Levin on this recording are a cadre of New York sidemen including fellow band mates, Diallo House (bass) and Taylor Davis (drums) that make up his standard trio. Augmenting the line up for this project are, tenor saxophonists Max Hacker and Stacy Dillard, guitarist Chad Coe and William Martina on the cello, each appearing on different tracks. The result of course is that you have group that plays with the tightness of a small combo yet producing the sounds of a larger ensemble.

The opening number provides an excellent example of this. “Blues on Thursday,” composed with Art Blakey in mind, features both saxophonists in dueling fashion on a very boppish number. Levin plays some masterful keys on the title cut, “A Reason for Being Alone,” a beautiful introspective sweet little cut that’s all Levin. Cellist Martina introduces “Emma’s Ennui” a romantic love ballad in the style of an Antonio Carlos Jobin score that I play often.

Borrowing a phrase from Theloniuos Monk, Levin pens a melancholy tune with “Her Solitary Wish” in which the leader demonstrates his prowess on the keys backed up by a torrid tenor solo from Dillard. Other terrific cuts include the mellow “You Call,” the very lively quick rhythm of “New Schooled” highlighting some more tenor madness by Hacker and the very jazzy “Blues Through Stained Glass” capturing the very essence of the group. A number that was recorded as an after thought.

In appraising this album I would have to say that this is one very enjoyable disc that deserves to be heard. Alex Levin and the band provide an excellent performance sure to catch the attention of aficionados and critics alike.
- ejazznews.com

The Alex Levin Trio plays some lovely instrumental jazz on A Reason for Being Alone. Some of the pieces are made for swinging around the dance floor and others are slower, and the two tempos act as counterpoints to each other.

A pair of saxophones opens "Blues on Thursday," and the tone swirls around them for most of the piece. The piano is the quiet heart of "A Reason for Being Alone." Some of the themes started here are continued in "Emma's Ennui." The bass takes the lead at first, and then the melody passes on to the piano and guitar.

The music takes a cheerier turn in "For Pete's Sake" as the tempo picks up as the melody spins round the dance floor. "Her Solitary Wish" starts off wistful as the mood is set by the saxophone, the mood softens as the piece progresses. The emotive themes continue in "Your Call," though they become marked with longing.

With the change in tempo of "New Schooled" also comes a change in feel, and once again they slide from one mode to the next. One dance leads to another as swing gives way to a waltz, and "Polar Bear Waltz" is understated and elegant. They wrap up with "Blues Through Stained Glass" as each musician gets a solo that leaves the music a bit on the sparse side on occasion.

There is a lot to like on A Reason for Being Alone as the music fits some of the various moods of the night. - Rambles.net

Pianist/Composer Alex Levin’s new CD entitled, A Reason for Being Alone, provides yet another angle to the rich straight ahead jazz tradition with a set of creative originals that provide a sense of freshness, yet familiarity, through the use of various styles, varied instrumentation, solid writing, and well executed playing by all.

The central core of the project is comprised of: Levin on piano, drummer Taylor Davis and Diallo House on acoustic bass. This central core is augmented on various selections by: Max Hacker and Stacey Dillard (tenor saxophones), Chad Coe (guitar), and William Martina (cello). The opening track, “Blues on Thursday,” brings to mind Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers with a bluesy unison sax melody that is juxtaposed against relaxed hits by the band. This mid-tempo swing selection has some fine tenor sax playing by both Max Hacker and Stacey Dillard. Levin provides a beautiful intro to “A Reason for Being Alone” that is very reminiscent of Keith Jarrett. The composition develops into a straight eight pulsed selection with Levin displaying his ability to build a solo with clearly articulated themes and moods which are all nicely matched by House and Davis.

“Emma’s Ennui” provides a nice texture change with the addition of William Martina on cello and Chad Coe on nylon strung guitar. The relaxed bossa nova’s melody and harmony is a cross between “Gentle Rain” and “How Insensitive.” Again this provides the listener with a sense of freshness, yet familiarity, all conveyed with thoughtful articulate playing. “Her Solitary Wish” finds the trio in full blowin’ swing mode that will bring back thoughts of the Miles Davis cool cookin’ relaxin’ and steamin’ sounds. “Your Call” is a great modern swing selection! Levin’s voicings are laden with rich sounding fours and seconds and his solo is just swingin’! Max Hacker (tenor sax) is no hack either!

This is a great find! The sound quality is great and the playing is the same. The familiarity of material that is always presented with freshness and thoughtfulness is sure to grab the jazz fans ears and give them A Reason for Being Alone with the Alex Levin’s musical novel, which will hopefully have a sequel soon!
- Jazz Police

The title of this disc might suggest an inward-looking or melancholic listening experience; but the Alex Levin Trio, plus a couple of tenor saxophonists sitting in—Max Hacker and Stacy Dillard—blows the roof off on the opener, "Blues on Thursday." It's a bright, gregarious, Art Blakey-esque sound, the horns sparring like a couple of free-swinging welterweights, snapping off jabs and flurries in front of a zingy rhythm. Put another quarter in the jukebox!
This is a "with guests" disc—the trio is joined on two more numbers by each of the saxophonists; a guitarist sits in on one tune, and a cellist plays on two more—but the title cut, with just the core trio, is an inward-looking, contemplative tune, with a memorable melody and an optimistic feeling. On "Emma's Ennui," a subtle, samba-like number that floats beautifully, Levin and the trio are joined by cellist William Martina and guitarist Chad Coe.

All the compositions on A Reason for Being Alone are Alex Levin originals. He has a nice touch for penning upbeat mainstream jazz tunes with strong melodies, and for changing moods while still maintaining a continuity of feeling.

"Her Solitary Wish" shows some dark colors, with some very strong horn playing from Dillard, along with an inventive Levin piano solo. The drifting, sad-sounding tune "Your Call" features cellist Martina again, while "New Schooled," with Max Hacker sitting in and smoldering on tenor sax, kicks up the energy level a few notches.

A strong, engaging mainstream effort.
- All About Jazz

Pianist/composer Alex Levin has penned a fine set of tunes for his sterling players—bassist Diallo House and drummer Taylor Davis; and the complementary playing (on selected tunes) of guests Max Hacker and Stacy Dillard on tenor saxophones, Chad Coe on guitar and William Martina on cello—to bring to fruition. This music is very much in the straight-ahead tradition but Levin understands how to put his own signature on what sounds like familiar material. Cellist Martina, for example, states the theme on the Brazilian-inspired "Emma's Ennui and Levin's bittersweet melodic line sits perfectly in the voice of the cello. And guitarist Coe fills out the sound of the group with color and verve.
Levin is a smart and sensitive pianist—he's able to blend an accomplished technique with a sense of what works to tell a story. He understands the jazz vocabulary and also color and texture. He opens this, his second album, with "Blues for Thursday, a crowd-pleaser that, says the composer, was written with Art Blakey in mind. Both horns state the theme and weave together a smoking tapestry of down-home emotion. And then Levin changes course and offers up a delicate ballad—the title tune—that is dark and quiet. "Her Solitary Wish suggests brooding emotion but its melancholy theme and the powerful playing of Dillard turn this into a grand statement of passion.

These tunes and all the playing have a little of everything—blues, bebop, bossa, ballads and, somehow more. It makes sense that Levin is an English teacher and in pursuit of a degree in literature. His writing and the way he creates the space for his players to speak and act suggest the workings of a master communicator. - All About Jazz

Pianist Alex Levin, a Philadelphia native, has demonstrated a two-track mindset scholastically, geographically, professionally and artistically. After moving to New York City to study piano at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Levin transferred to Brown University, where he earned a degree in English literature. He then moved to Berlin, where his quartet The Living Room achieved popular and critical success, gaining notoriety for unique interpretations of pop songs by the likes of Björk and Tom Waits.
After returning to New York in 2001, Levin established himself as a working musician by night and a teacher by day. He's even double-barreled as an academic, teaching English and music in Brooklyn during the school year and working on his master's degree in Vermont during the summer.

A Reason For Being Alone is Levin's second release, featuring nine original compositions. His core trio of bassist Diallo House and drummer Taylor Davis is supplemented by four additional sidemen on several tracks, creating a nice sonic and stylistic variety.

One of these supplements, attractive and certainly unusual, is the work of William Martina on cello, an altogether underused instrument in jazz. A wonderfully mellow string voice offering a happy medium between bass and violin, Martina's bowed melody line gives a markedly Django Reinhardt-ish flavor to "Emma's Ennui," and the song itself evokes John Lewis' famous ode to the gypsy guitarist. This sense is further enhanced by Chad Coe, who contributes a nicely relaxed guitar solo. Martina also plays winningly on the lyrical "Your Call."

Like most jazz pianists, Levin mixes club dates with private parties, where it is incumbent to know (as the testimonial of one pleased client puts it) how to "contribute to and not dominate the festivities." In a compliment that might make some purists wince a bit, critic Beth Mann wrote that Levin's first release, Night and Distance (2005), is "a guaranteed crowd-pleaser at a dinner party." Levin himself admits it was designed as easy listening, something "people would... enjoy throughout the day—at dinner, while relaxing or reading, or when they were cooking."

Doubtless, it's tough these days to make a vocation—or even an avocation—as a jazz musician, especially in New York, which has no shortage of talented pianists. Levin is balancing commercial viability with artistic integrity, and he has thus far done an admirable job of walking what can be a tricky tightrope.

Here, unfettered by the need to remain politely unobtrusive and perhaps bolstered by the success of Night and Distance, Levin signals a willingness to strike a more assertive note with the opening track, "Blues on Thursday." A distinctly Horace Silver-tinged concoction, the dueling saxophones of Stacy Dillard and Max Hacker make for a pleasantly raucous atmosphere.

Levin's ensemble works it way comfortably through several genres, including the straight-ahead "For Pete's Sake" and the bebop "New Schooled." The Evans-esque "Blues through Stained Glass" shows Levin's ability to raise cocktail piano to an art form, and the balladic title track is sensitively rendered. - All About Jazz

ALEX LEVIN TRIO: new release - NEW YORK PORTRAITS
Hans Koert



Within a few months Alex Levin and his trio will release its new album entitled New York Portraits. I was favored more than his regular fans to have a listen and I love to share you my preview. The album will be released late September 2010.
Alex Levin, raised in Philadelphia, is a professional jazz pianist for almost 15 years and performs in the Philadelphia and New York City regions. From 1998 up to 2001 he lived in Berlin (Germany) where he founded his own group, a quartet, entitled The Living Room. In 2001 he returned to New York City and accompanied dozens of vocalists like Ayana del Valle and Heather Moran. The former, her ancestors came from Puerto Rico, started to sing when she first heard Ella Fitgerald and is now a sought after vocalist in all kinds of genres, like jazz improvisation with R&B, soul, pop, hip-hop and Latin; the latter Heater Moran is inspired by Rosemary Clooney's music.
Alex Levin ( photo courtesy: Chad Coe and Peter Moser)


Alex Levin released his first album, Night and Distance, in 2005 which became an unexpected success in both Japan as the States and had to be reprinted. His second album, A Reason for Being Alone, was with a larger group, including two reed players and a cellist. This New York Portraits, recorded at the Systems Two Studios in Brooklyn (NY) the 5th of January, 2009, is a trio record again. The title New York Portaits refers to the musicians that influenced him, like Bill Evans, Tom Waits, Ahmad Jamal, Blossom Dearie, Shirley Horn, Barry Harris and Red Garland. Most of the tracks are standards, like Irving Berlin's Cheek To Cheek, I Loves You Porgy, Isn't a Pity ( both Gershwin-compositions) and Body and Soul. It contains two original Alex Levin compositions, like Last Train to Brooklyn and Blues for Charley; the latter dedicated to his daughter. The rhythm section is a solid one, featuring Michael Bates on bass and Brian Floody on drums. It makes this piano trio recordings a swinging feast for the ears.

Michael Bates ( photo courtesy: Chad Coe and Peter Moser)

I love to share with you a fragment by the Alex Levin Trio, recorded at a private party in Manhattan, where you can enjoy the relaxed and swinging music by his trio.


In the liner notes Alex shares his earliest remembrances to jazz music - his first experiences with the jazz scene as a poverty-stricken young student.
Brian Floody ( photo courtesy: Chad Coe and Peter Moser)

As a student, he lived in a small apartment in East Village in Saint Mark's Place (NY). He lived there with an acting student and his girlfriend. My bed was a mattress on the floor next to the kitchen. Like most students he didn't had enough money to visit shows. He earned some extra money - minimum-wage hours - and used it to visit clubs, like Deanna's Jazz Club at Rivington Str. East Village. There he listened to musicians like Herman Foster, who performed there with musicians like Arnie Lawrence. Piano player Herman Foster, he passed away April 1999, became known for his recordings with Lou Donaldson, like in Gravy Train. A photo shows Herman Foster with Jeff Fuller and Lou Donaldson (1981). Alex became fascinated by the way he played. His playing, to quote the New Groove Dictionary of Jazz, characterized by a formidable attack and fluid and melodic passages of locked-hand work. Arnie Lawrence, born as Arnold Lawrence Finkelstein, was an alto saxophone player who had worked with Charles Mingus, Thad Jones, Maynard Ferguson and Chico Hamilton, but also toured with Elvin Jones, Louie Bellson and Liza Minnelli. When Alex heard him playing Arnie had already founded the International Center for Creative Music where dozens of now well known jazz musicians have studied, like Roy Hargrove and Brad Mehldau, to list two I recently heard in concert. Alex remembers that Arnie blew the best solos - he took theaudience far, far away, and his lines smoldered with a potent combination of love and sorrow. Arnie passed away 67 years old, in Jeruzalem (Israel) April 2005. Alex remembers the atmosphere - how he felt at the age of eighteen, sitting at a small table in Deanna's felt as vertiginous as balancing on the pinnacle of the Empire State Building. Now, as he writes, life has become more regular - he's married, has a daughter, and a job as a tacher at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, but he still remembers those first experiences from those early jams at Deanna's.

Alex Levin, can be heard, each Friday Night, at Manhattan Youth Community Center. These concerts are free and everyone is welcome: babies, toddlers, children, teenagers and adults. Children under 16 are welcome to bring an instrument and jam with the band. I love to share with you a small fragment I found made at one of those pro-children concerts - you can see that the kids have fun and enjoy the music.


I'm convinced that a new Jazz generation is born here !!
Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl - Keep Swinging