Hank Levy - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hank Levy was an American jazz composer and saxophonist whose works often employed unusual time signature

Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

s. He is best known as a big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

composer for Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton

Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....

and the Don Ellis

Don Ellis

Don Ellis was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of unusual time signatures...

Orchestra, as well as the founder and long-time director of Towson University

Towson University

Towson University, often referred to as TU or simply Towson for short, is a public university located in Towson in Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S...

’s Jazz Program.

Levy's interest in odd meters pre-dates Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck

David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...

's Time Out

Time Out (album)

Time Out is a jazz album by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, released in 1959 on Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1397. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, it is based upon the use of time signatures that were unusual for jazz such as 9/8 and 5/4. The album is a subtle blend of cool...

album. He studied composition with George Thaddeus Jones at Catholic University

The Catholic University of America

The Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...

in Washington, DC, and became interested in odd meters through their use by such composers as Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...

, Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel

Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

, and Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....

. He was also a particularly good composer of counterpoint

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

, which can be heard in such compositions as Passacaglia and Fugue (recorded by Don Ellis

Don Ellis

Don Ellis was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of unusual time signatures...

on "Live At Monterey") and Quintessence (performed, but not recorded by, Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton

).

Levy was also prolific as an arranger of jazz standards, though few of them were published during his lifetime. He was especially fond of the music of the stage as it came through bebop

Bebop

Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...

: Cole Porter

Cole Porter

Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...

, George Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...

, Jerome Kern

Jerome Kern

Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...

. In his last years, he more frequently turned to bebop

Bebop

originals, tunes by Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

, Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

, Tadd Dameron

Tadd Dameron

Tadley Ewing Peake "Tadd" Dameron was an American jazz composer, arranger and pianist. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon called Dameron the "romanticist" of the bop movement, while reviewer Scott Yanow writes that Dameron was the "definitive arranger/composer of the bop era".-Biography:Born in Cleveland,...

. Though the odd meters he was associated with rarely appeared in these arrangements, and were typically conventional in respect to style, they often displayed a distinctive creativity.

Levy began his full-time college teaching career at Towson State University in late 1967 creating "The Towson State Jazz Ensemble". By 1970, his hard work and passion for teaching brought the band to national prominence when his Towson State Jazz Ensemble competed and won the outstanding band honors at the prestigious Notre Dame Jazz Festival. Additional honors went to Levy's lead trumpet player, Tony Neenan who was voted "Best Lead Trumpet" of the festival.

Today, Levy's music is performed by the Hank Levy Legacy Band https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hank-Levy-Legacy-Band/190154561277 , based in Towson

Towson

-Places:In the United States:*Towson, Maryland, an unincorporated community in Maryland**Towson Center, an arena in Towson, Maryland**Towson Town Center, a shopping mall in Towson, Maryland*Fort Towson, Oklahoma, a community in Oklahoma...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. The band was founded in 1992 following his retirement from full-time teaching. The band has recorded two live CD's: Hank At Home (2000) and An "Odd-Time" Was Had By All (2004), both distributed by Sonority Records.

A handful of Levy's works are still in print through various distributors. His most well-known works, those recorded by Stan Kenton and originally published through Creative World, are now distributed by Sierra Music Publications, headed by Robert Curnow, another Kenton composer.
While Levy was director in 1975, the Towson State Jazz Ensemble recorded "2 + 2 = 5", an album of six of his compositions for the Music Minus One label, which specializes in recordings leaving out the part for one instrument so a musician can play along. The recording comprised Levy compositions, all but one in odd meter: Bop City Revisited, Poopsie's Penthouse, A Quiet Friday, Pete Is a Four-Letter Word, Bread and Watrous, and Stillness Runs Deep. (MMO still offers the version minus trombone.) Personnel on the recording who also have performed with the Hank Levy Alumni Band include Steve Ashcraft (drums) and Ray Disney (trumpet).

Selected works

Abovo 7/4 and 13/4 (performed by Don Ellis)
Ambivalence (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Antea 7/4
Blues, Between and Betwixt 7/4 and 7/8 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Bread and Watrous (performed by Bill Watrous
Bill Watrous
William Russell Watrous III is a jazz trombonist. He is perhaps best known by casual fans of jazz music for his rendition of Sammy Nestico's arrangement of the Johnny Mandel ballad "A Time for Love," which he recorded on a 1993 album of the same name...

)
Chain Reaction 13/8 (recorded by Don Ellis)
Chiapas 5/4 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Comin' On Strong
Decoupage 5/4 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Down and Dirty 5/4 and 10/8 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Down Home Cookin'
Early Riser 7/4
Enter Stage Left 5/4
Fringe Benefit (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Hank's Opener 7/4 and 14/8 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Indra 9/4 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Journey Into Capricorn 5/4 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Latintensity 12/8
Little Girl Blue 4/4
Of Space and Time 5/4 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Passacaglia & Fugue 3/4 and 4/4 (recorded by Don Ellis)
Pegasus 6/8 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Quintessence 5/4 (performed by Stan Kenton)
Rock Odyssey 7/4 and 12/4 (recorded by Don Ellis)
Samba Bajada 9/4 (recorded by Don Ellis)
Samba Siete 7/4 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Smith Named Greg, A 4/4 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Southern Exposure 5/4
Step Beyond, A 5/4 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Thetis 4/4 (recorded by Don Ellis)
Time for a Change 9/4 (recorded by Stan Kenton)
Whiplash 7/4 and 14/8 (recorded by Don Ellis)
With The Old Man In Mind 5/4
Would You Believe 4/4

Selected works

Links