Stan Levey - Jazz Heavyweight

Hardcover
224 pages
Santa Monica Press, Publ.

Stan Levey is one of the most influential drummers in the history of modern jazz. During his extraordinary career, the self-taught Levey played alongside a who's who of twentieth century jazz artists: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Lester Young, Thelonious Monk, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald...the remarkable list goes on and on...

"Jazz Heavyweight" follows Levey's prolific and colorful life, from his childhood days in North Philadelphia, to his first gig as a drummer for Dizzy Gillespie at the age of sixteen and his meteoric rise as one of the most sought after sidemen in the world of bebop, to his membership in the Lighthouse All-Stars and his prominent role in the creation of West Coast Jazz.