Levin helped to popularize the Chapman Stick and the NS electric upright bass. He also created "funk fingers", modified drumsticks that attach to the fingers of the player in order to strike the bass strings, adding a distinctive percussive "slap" sound used in funk bass playing. In 2011, Levin ranked #2 behind John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin in the "20 Most Underrated Bass Guitarists" in Paste magazine.[5] In July 2020, Levin was ranked #42 on the "50 Greatest Bassists of All Time" list by Rolling Stone magazine.
Biography
Early life and education
Anthony Frederick Levin was born on June 6, 1946, in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up in a Reform Jewish household in the suburb of Brookline.[6] He began playing double bass at 10 years old, primarily studying classical music. In high school, he learned tuba, soloing with the concert band, and also started a barbershop quartet.
In 1970, Levin moved to New York City, joining a band called Aha, the Attack of the Green Slime Beast, with Don Preston of The Mothers of Invention. Soon after, he began working as a session musician, and through the 1970s he played bass on many albums, including Buddy Rich's big band jazz album, The Roar of '74, and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years in 1975.
In 1971, John McLaughlin asked Levin to join his new project, the Mahavishnu Orchestra: "My original choice for bass was Tony Levin. But he told me, 'Oh man, I just took a gig with Gary Burton.'"[8] From 1973 to 1975, Levin and Steve Gadd played in the band of veteran jazz flautist Herbie Mann. Two of Levin's early compositions (“Daffodil” and “Music Is a Game We Play”) were featured on the 1973 Mann album First Light.
In 1977, Levin joined Peter Gabriel's band. He had met Gabriel through producer Bob Ezrin with whom Levin had recorded Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare and Lou Reed's Berlin. Levin has been Gabriel's bass player of choice ever since. On Gabriel's first solo album, Levin played tuba as well, and directed and sang with a barbershop quartet on "Excuse Me". With the exception of John Giblin's fretless bass playing on Peter Gabriel III, some additional work by Larry Klein on "In Your Eyes" & "Mercy Street", and Bill Laswell on "This is the Picture" (all three tracks from So), Levin has been the bassist on all of Gabriel's studio sessions and on his many tours around the world. Gabriel nicknamed Levin the “Emperor of the Bottom End.”[9]
In his years with Gabriel, Levin developed two unique aspects of his playing: further advancement on the Chapman Stick, which he would later utilize heavily in King Crimson, and invented funk fingers. Essentially, these are short drumsticks used to strike the bass strings, resulting in a very percussive effect. Levin credits Gabriel with the concept and his tech Andy Moore with actually making them workable.
In 1978, Levin moved to Woodstock, New York, to join the band L'Image, which included his old friend Steve Gadd as well as Mike Mainieri and Warren Bernhardt. The band broke up after a year, though Levin decided to stay in the area: he currently resides in Kingston, New York. This Ill-fated group would reunite much later in Levin's career. On the first day of recording Peter Gabriel's first album in late 1976, Levin met both Peter Gabriel and King Crimson guitarist/composer Robert Fripp for the first time, and in 1978 he played on Fripp's solo album Exposure. This would lead Levin to become a member of the 1981–1984 incarnation of King Crimson, along with Fripp, guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew, and drummer Bill Bruford. Levin recorded four studio albums as part of King Crimson:Discipline(1981),Beat (1982), Three of a Perfect Pair (1984) andTHRAK (1995), all critically acclaimed.
In 1980, Levin participated in the sessions for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy album. In 1987, Levin played the bass and Chapman Stick parts on the Pink Floyd album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. In 1988 Bruford asked Levin to be an "unofficial fifth member" in the Yes-related supergroup Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, which consisted of all the members from the classic Yes lineup except bassist Chris Squire, though Levin only performed as a session player on the group's eponymous album. Due to illness, he was unable to play on some of the final dates of the accompanying tour, being replaced by Jeff Berlin. Levin also played on the Yes album Union in 1991.
In 1984 Levin released Road Photos, a collection of black and white photos taken during his travels with King Crimson, Gabriel, Simon, and others. Another book of photos focusing on King Crimson's travels in the 1980s, The Crimson Chronicles volume 1, was released in 2004. Levin has also written a book of career anecdotes and road stories called Beyond the Bass Clef.
In 1998, Levin and Bruford formed Bruford Levin Upper Extremities with trumpeter Chris Botti and guitarist David Torn; they released one studio album in 1998 and a live double album in 2000. Torn, Levin, and Bruford had worked with trumpeter Mark Isham for Torn's album Cloud About Mercury. Levin also continued recording albums with his own band, consisting of drummer/saxophonist/vocalist Jerry Marotta, guitarist Jesse Gress, synthesizer programmer/player Larry Fast, and Levin's brother, keyboardist Pete Levin. He also regularly played (and occasionally recorded) with the California Guitar Trio when their schedules permitted.
In 1997, Levin teamed up with Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci, members of Dream Theater, as well as future Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess, for a project called Liquid Tension Experiment. The combo released two albums, Liquid Tension Experiment and Liquid Tension Experiment 2 in 1998 and 1999 respectively, as well as playing short tours in 1998 and 2008. There have also been two CDs of material released under the name "Liquid Trio Experiment"; the first composed of studio jams from sessions without Petrucci (Spontaneous Combustion), released for the band's tenth anniversary, and a live recording from a 2008 Chicago show where Rudess's equipment failed and the other three covered for it with a nearly hour-long improvisation (When the Keyboard Breaks). During the COVID-19 global pandemic, the group reconvened and recorded Liquid Tension Experiment 3.
At the end of 2003 Trey Gunn left King Crimson and Levin rejoined as the bassist, although the band was only active for a handful of rehearsals at that time. In 2006, Levin released Resonator, The first album to feature Levin as a lyricist and lead vocalist. 2007 saw the release of Stick Man, an album of pieces recorded on the Chapman Stick. In 2008, Levin joined King Crimson's 40th Anniversary Tour, in a lineup including Fripp, Belew, Mastelotto, and Harrison. He holds the record as King Crimson’s longest-serving bassist overall.[9]
Building upon the Stick Man album, Levin joined up with Michael Bernier and Pat Mastelotto to form the group Stick Men.[10] The band released its first album Soup in 2010.[11] Bernier left the group shortly after the release of Soup and was replaced by touch guitarist Markus Reuter. This lineup has continued with a busy touring and recording schedule, with their most recent recording Tentacles released in 2022.
Levin's brother, Pete Levin, is a New York keyboardist and writer who is known for his work with Gil Evans. In the 1970s, Tony and Pete collaborated with Steve Gadd in the comedy band The Clams. Levin has stated that some of the Clams' material may eventually be released. Levin also played on Jean-Pierre Ferland's Jaune album, which included hits "Le petit roi" and "Le chat du café des artistes".
On September 24, 2013, Levin was officially announced as a member of the eighth incarnation of King Crimson, alongside band founder Robert Fripp, guitarist Jakko Jakszyk, the returning Mel Collins on saxophone, drummers Pat Mastelotto and Gavin Harrison, and new member Bill Rieflin.[12] The group toured the United States in the autumn of 2014 and continued to tour throughout the world until 2021, including 2019 when King Crimson celebrated its 50th anniversary.
In 2024, Levin and former King Crimson member Adrian Belew announced the creation of the supergroup Beat, which includes guitarist Steve Vai and drummer Danny Carey. With the approval of Robert Fripp, this group performs material from the early 1980s incarnation of King Crimson.[13] In September 2024, Levin released the solo album Bringing It Down to the Bass, featuring guest appearances with many of his former bandmates and collaborators.[14]
Levin met Andi Turco in 1995 when she was promoting Virgin Records in Atlanta. They married three years later.[21] Andi Turco-Levin ran for mayor of Kingston, New York, in 2011, and for Ulster County Legislature in 2019, both campaigns unsuccessful.[22] Turco-Levin is credited with backing vocals on the album Resonator (2006) and for photography on Levin Minnemann Rudess (2013).[23]
Levin has one child, filmmaker Maggie Levin.[24]
In 2003, Levin stated that he is a vegetarian.[25]
^"Interview:Nick Beggs (John Paul Jones,Steve Hackett,Steven Wilson,Kajagoogoo)". Hit-channel.com. April 11, 2012. Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2017. Tony is one of the greatest musicians ever born. I am only glad that I was able to discover him when I did as he taught me so much about music. Yes I am a fan of Tony Levin. Isn't everyone?
^Hartmann, Graham (March 16, 2013). "Between the Buried and Me Bassist Dan Briggs Talks 'The Parallax II,' Composing Music + More". Loudwire. Radio City Music Hall, New York City (published May 1, 2013). Archived from the original on May 3, 2013. Retrieved March 3, 2017. [...] For me, that method of finding a groove within a really dense riff comes from Tony Levin (King Crimson), who is one of my all-time favorite bassists. He was so good at, "Where is this groove coming from." He was, first and foremost, just a really groove-y bass player and that's something I've always tried to take [for myself]. [...]
