The Brubeck Brothers Quartet - Intuition

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:53
Size: 171,4 MB
Art: Front

(7:42)  1. West Of One
(8:48)  2. Sahara Moon
(9:08)  3. Parade Du Funk
(8:36)  4. Bullwinkle's Revenge
(9:18)  5. Still As Winter
(9:03)  6. Open Door
(6:23)  7. Jump Up, Get Down
(6:58)  8. Easy For You To Pray
(3:54)  9. Change Up

The prospect of reviewing an all-original release can strike apprehension if not actual fear in a critic's heart. With the growing ease of self-production, it's increasingly likely that such recordings will be monuments to tuneless self-indulgence.This is one reason why Intuition is such a treat: the compositions are not only fresh, melodic and memorable, but they're rendered with sublime expertise and considerable joy. From guitarist Mike DeMicco's swinging "West of One" through the tipsy second-line groove of "Parade du Funk" and the jubilant "Jump Up, Get Down" and "Change Up," jazz doesn't get any jollier than this.The music is laced with the intriguingly lopsided meters one would expect from Dave Brubeck's children. Moreover, Chris, who has a blessedly impeccable tone on fretless bass, shows considerable wit in his use of slide and vibrato on both guitar and trombone. Dan's cowbell provides its own sly humor, although his drum chops are as serious as they ever get.

Mike DeMicco supplies fine guitar work and two compositions that blend nicely with Brubeck's seven, while Pete Levin adds his churning B3 to three of them. Then there's the dazzling precocity of pianist Taylor Eigsti: just a young teenager when this was recorded, he's already consistently fluid and creative, and his ballad playing on "Still as Winter" is understated and gorgeous.To these ears, the standout track is the evocative and mysterious "Sahara Moon," where the dynamics shift and build as smoothly as desert sand. (Note: although the tune is a mix of jazz and funk, it also helps explain why Chris Brubeck is in such demand as a symphonic composer.) In sum, this recording lives up to the full possibilities of originality: crisply recorded, organically paced and beautifully played, it's a unique and sparkling delight. 

~ Dr Judith Schlesinger https://www.allaboutjazz.com/intuition-brubeck-brothers-quartet-koch-international-jazz-review-by-dr-judith-schlesinger.php

Personnel: Dan Brubeck: drums; Chris Brubeck: fretless bass, bass trombone; Mike DeMicco: guitar; Taylor Eigsti: piano; Pete Levin: organ.

Intuition

---

Pete Levin - Jump

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:27
Size: 145.2 MB
Styles: B3 Organ jazz
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[6:49] 1. Jump!
[6:48] 2. Exclamation!
[6:36] 3. That Was Then
[6:47] 4. The Big Dog Is Always Right
[6:31] 5. Talk To The Animals
[5:57] 6. Nostalgia In Times Square
[6:02] 7. Little Sunflower
[5:44] 8. Candido
[7:09] 9. Alone Together
[5:00] 10. Honeysuckle Rose

Some music, just by the act of listening to it, makes you feel cooler. A great jazz organ trio can do that with ease. Whether it's Jimmy Smith, Richard "Groove" Holmes, or Pete Levin, those syncopated stabs and walking basslines on the Hammond B3, when percolating with brushed drums and warm electric guitar, have the power to relax the mind and stoke the imagination.

As the fleet-fingered Levin saunters and swings through the mentholated grooves of "Exclamation!," "That Was Then" and "The Big Dog Is Always Right," the listener is suddenly in some smoke-filled corner bar, circa 1960, decked out in a sharkskin suit and a Dobbs lid. And as if he or she needed any more fuel for the way back machine, Levin even covers Mingus' aptly titles "Nostalgia in Time Square."

Remarkably, the B3 is not Levin's first instrument. In the '70s, he got his start playing French horn with Gil Evans, then branched out as one of jazz's first synthesizer specialists. His work with a wide array of artists across the spectrum, from Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter to Paul Simon and Annie Lennox, influences his own compositions, which are both harmonically interesting and immediate. And his choice of covers reflects a playful sensibility, from Doctor Doolittle's "Talk to the Animals" to Tin Pan Alley chestnuts "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Alone Together."

Bandmates drummer Lenny White and guitarist Dave Stryker get plenty of room to stretch out - Stryker's solo on "That Was Then" is especially lovely - but mostly this is Levin administering one long, invigorating shot of B3 cool. ~Bill DeMain

Jump

---

Pete Levin - Deacon Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:37
Size: 152.5 MB
Styles: Organ jazz
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[5:19] 1. Deacon Blues
[6:48] 2. Uptown
[6:37] 3. Sail On Sailor
[6:00] 4. First Gymnopedie
[3:58] 5. Once Lost
[6:38] 6. Icarus
[3:59] 7. Sad Truth
[7:06] 8. Eclipse
[5:41] 9. Might Have Been
[8:31] 10. Dragonfly
[5:55] 11. Mean To Me

Pete Levin hasn't done a lot of recording under his own name, even though he's been a professional musician for decades. But this veteran of both jazz and pop eschews musical boundaries in this wide-ranging outing on Hammond organ, assisted by guitarists Joe Beck or Mike DeMicco, electric bassist Tony Levin, drummer Danny Gottlieb, and percussionists Ken Lovelett and Carlos Valdez. From the world of rock, Levin offers a snappy, grooving treatment of Donald Fagen's "Deacon Blues" and a laid-back rendition of Brian Wilson's "Sail on Sailor" that borders on smooth jazz. His catchy reworking of impressionist composer Erik Satie's First Gymnopedie takes this familiar 20th century piece into a completely new direction. Levin's "Might Have Been" is a dark, bluesy vehicle for Beck. His interpretations of two Jimmy Giuffre compositions also merit praise. The playful conclusion is a straight-ahead setting of the decades-old standard "Mean to Me." This is a fun outing by a musician who needs to get under the spotlight a bit more frequently. ~Ken Dryden

Deacon Blues

---

Pete Levin - Iridium Live 008 4-18-2012

Size: 134,3 MB
Time: 58:13
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2013
Styles: Jazz
Art: Front

01. Might Have Been ( 4:53)
02. Shades Beyond ( 8:31)
03. Little Sunflower ( 9:36)
04. Back In The Schoolyard (12:41)
05. Little Wing ( 8:47)
06. Old Wine, New Bottles (13:42)

Organist Pete Levin, a former member of the Gil Evans Orchestra, reunites in a live setting with fellow ex-bandmates at the Iridium in 2012. The set list includes modern big-band arrangements from the Gil Evans songbook, two of Levin’s compositions, and cover versions of Freddie Hubbard’s “Little Sunflower,” the Lenny White penned “Old Wine, New Bottles” and the Jimi Hendrix classic “Little Wing.”

Bio:
Pete Levin (born December 20, 1942) is an American jazz keyboardist, composer and horn player.

Levin grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts. His first instrument as a teenager was the French horn. He studied at Boston University and received a master's degree from Juilliard School of music in New York City. In the early 1970s he joined the Gil Evans Orchestra as a French horn player. At the time, Levin was experimenting with synthesizers. Over time Gil Evans incorporated Levin's synthesizer sound into the compositions and Levin's role changed to a full-time keyboardist. His fifteen-year association with the Gil Evans Orchestra was followed by an eight-year association with Jimmy Giuffre.

Levin plays the hammond organ, clavinet and moog synthesizer. He has produced several albums as a band leader including the 2007 Deacon Blues. In 2014 he released a collaborative album with his brother, bassist Tony Levin, titled Levin Brothers. The album is a tribute to and styled after the works of Oscar Pettiford and Julius Watkins. Levin has performed for film and television scores including Missing in Action, Lean on Me, Silver Bullet, Red Scorpion, The Color of Money, Maniac, Spin City, America's Most Wanted and Star Trek. He has written scores of his own for Zelimo and The Dybbuk. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for writing the official military band arrangement of the U.S. Infantry song.

He has worked with a wide range of artists including Carla Bley, Brubeck Brothers, Hiram Bullock, Jimmy Cobb, Billy Cobham, Willie Colón, Miles Davis, Rachelle Farrell, Bryan Ferry, Gregory Hines, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Band, Annie Lennox, Chuck Mangione, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Jaco Pastorius, Robbie Robertson, Salt-n-Pepa, David Sanborn, John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Paul Simon, Lew Soloff, Vanessa Williams, and Lenny White.

Regarding his creative work, Levin stated that "All my arranging and orchestrating work is grounded in what I experience in live performance (...) My best and most creative ideas come from playing live."

Iridium Live 008 4-18-2012

---

Pete Levin - Certified Organic

Size: 139,2 MB
Time: 59:59
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2008
Styles: Jazz: Hammond Organ
Art: Front

01. I'm Falling (5:54)
02. Nana (7:19)
03. Love For Sale (6:02)
04. Patience (5:00)
05. Teen Town (4:38)
06. Where Flamingo's Fly (6:04)
07. Out Of Darkness (5:23)
08. When I Was Young (7:53)
09. The Question Of U (6:06)
10. The Face In The Mirror (5:36)

Pete Levin is sometimes overshadowed by his brother Tony, an in-demand player in the art-rock world (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson), who also built serious jazz cred in his youth with vibraphonist Gary Burton and pianist Warren Bernhardt. But keyboardist Pete Levin has built a fine discography of his own more closely linked to the jazz world. A lengthy stint with composer/arranger Gil Evans, and session work with guitarist John Scofield and trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard helped spread his name, but it's his recent solo work that's most worth visiting. Drawing from the same organ jazz roots that defined Deacon Blues (Motema, 2007), on Certified Organic Levin recruits a larger cast of characters for an album high on groove but broad in reach, with elements of swing, soul-jazz, funk, fusion and more.

Mike DeMicco is back from Deacon on Levin's modal fusion workout, "Patience," where the guitarist's grungy tone turns a potentially ethereal track more visceral, and "When I Was Young," a lithely swinging tune that updates guitar icon Wes Montgomery's early '60s organ trios. Joe Beck, who sadly passed away in July 2008, also returns for a dark take of the Kennedy/Spolansky ballad, "Where Flamingos Fly" and Levin's "The Face in the Mirror," its slightly countrified waltz time a reminder of just how versatile this sadly undervalued guitarist was, despite leaving a significant recorded legacy.

Levin's own multifaceted nature drives the record, starting from the get-go with his funkified "I'm Falling," where guitarist John Carridi's chunky rhythm playing locks hand-in-glove with drummer Harvey Sorgen's in-the-pocket groove. Levin solos with the organ-equivalent of Scofield's uncanny ability to take things out just enough to create a palpable release when he brings it back in, while Carridi's overdriven solo is bop- inflected but blues-centric. Moacir Santos and Mani Telles' "Nana" is equally funk-driven, but percussionist Ernie Colon provides a link to its Latin roots, while Levin winds his way through a potent vamp and some more challenging changes.

While grabbing a larger chunk of compositional credit this time around, Levin also finds new approaches to popular tunes. "Love 4 Sale" takes Cole Porter's classic to unexpected places with a combination of some surprising re-harmonization, shifting feels and, after Levin's extended and dynamically building solo, a clean-toned turn from Cariddi that again blends bop with plenty of blues edge.

But it's Levin's arrangement of Jaco Pastorius' often-covered "Teen Town" that's Certified Organic's biggest surprise. Usually a bass workout, this time the knotty but singable theme isn't its primary focus; it's a steadily-building trade-off between Levin and saxophonist Erik Lawrence. With it, as with all of Certified Organic, Levin ups the ante and aims to increase his visibility as a leader. Demonstrating undeniably fine skills as composer, arranger and performer whose reach goes well beyond Certified Organic's groove-happy veneer, it's an album that easily places Levin in the same company as Larry Goldings, Gary Versace and Dan Wall. ~By John Kelman

Personnel: Pete Levin: Nord Clavia keyboards; John Cariddi: guitar (1-3, 7); Mike DeMicco: guitar (4, 8); Joe Beck: guitar (6, 10); Jesse Gress: guitar (5, 9); Erik Lawrence: saxophone (5-7); Harvey Sorgen; drums; Ernie Colon: percussion (1-3, 5); Ken Lovelett: percussion (4, 6).

Certified Organic

---