Wow! Stan Levy was surrounded and played with so many "giants of jazz". All he had to do, was mention Charlie Parker, which would have been enough for one person's lifetime! But here we had, a white boy living in the SAME apartment complex as Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis, Ben Webster etc. And he played with everyone! What a guy! Now, THAT'S A STORY!!!

Dizzy said, out of all those white boys, Stan Levy was the one who could play the music. When I was in high school, in the 50's I used to go down to the Lighthouse on Sundays to listen to Stan Levy. He was the most powerful drummer that I'd heard at that time. He drove that band like a locomotive. I met him in the 70's, when I was playing a wedding gig and he was the photographer. He was very complimentary and kind to me. I value his comments and his taking the time to talk to me.

@blue47er

3 жыл бұрын

I think Diz also had a great liking for other white musicians, which is why Al Haig played piano behind Diz and Bird. But Dizzy's greatest contribution was his encouragement of all musicians, be they black or white. However, Stan was undoubtedly a uniquely talented drummer and his book, Stan Levey - Jazz Heavyweight, is a great read and can still be found if you just look around.

@AlexSosaBolivia

3 жыл бұрын

Great story, thanks for sharing that :)

@martindalmasi5340

2 жыл бұрын

The OTHER Stan could play the music too. 🎷

@charlesdonahue7683

2 жыл бұрын

Miles always said that when the majority of the white guys who came through the black jazz bands left and started their own bands, they generally hired white guys exclusively.

@perceptionmanagement2116

Жыл бұрын

Stan Levey was jewish, not White ✡️

My mouth was agape through the entire video. I recognize each and every name because music historians and journalists noted these players in the late 70s and 80s and 90s. What I think I know - lucky enough to have Amiri Baraja as a musicology tutor once a week for 5 or 6 or 7 weeks - was confirmed here. I even recognized the name of the subject. Seeing and hearing Charlie Watts was the cherry on top. Seeing and hearing Miles Davis was Thanksgiving dinner.

Born too late. Imagine seeing Bird in one club, then just cross the street to hear Ben Webster.

@stevenospam4216

3 жыл бұрын

And as a corollary, Anthony, how unfortunate that the last couple of generations didn't and don't have the incredible culture of the 52nd Street of the '30s, '40s, and '50s. What a shame it doesn't still exist for the jazz musicians and their audiences today...

Stan was one of my Dad's best friends! We had lots of dinners together at the old family house. Such a sweetheart !!! God bless everyone :) ps: My Dad played tenor sax, and also struck up a friendship with Stan Getz and Georgie Auld. All the old jazz guys.

@angelalevey9981

3 жыл бұрын

What was your Dad's first name Michael?

@michaelangileo2760

3 жыл бұрын

@@angelalevey9981 Boris !!! (Angela, my pen name is "An'gileo." Please send my kind regards to the whole family.)

@Jamestele1

3 жыл бұрын

You are blessed man! That's a who's who of my favorites. Stan Getz Early Autumn got me through detoxing and terrible withdrawal.

Wow. This does my heart good. There's not much film put together covering this transitional era in music and the stupendous stars it produced. I was a boomer and should have loved rock 'n roll, but no. I wasn't wrong looking one generation back to the great bebop era. It produced America's greatest artistic period and was food for the brain and heart as well as the groin. This Stan Levey material is a revelation. You never hear or read about him, but he's on all your records. This whole thing brings a tear to my eye. Great contribution guys.

@johnryan3913

8 ай бұрын

You are so right. I got into rock n roll first, and still love the creme de la creme, but jazz was right around the corner, first up was Ellington!

I just started watching this. I saw the wonderful doc about Charlie Watts and Stan Levy's time together a couple years ago. Now both of them are gone. Thanks for letting me find this film as well!

Well done! Stan Levey is certainly known amongst jazz drummers but certainly was never a household name amongst Roach Blakey PJJ or even later Buddy Rich. However, this fact neither diminishes his talent nor his role in the history of jazz and jazz drumming.

This is such a valuable film. Already 23 years old. I was unaware of Stan’s key role in the those early days. I’m reading Miles’ autobiography and Stan gets (the autocorrect wants to write Getz!) a lot of mentions. My first real sense of Stan was with Getz, Mulligan, Lou Levy and Leroy Vinnegar. So I had Stan nailed as a West Coast player. I should have looked more closely at the personnel! My favourite of Stan’s anecdotes is the Billie Holiday one, despite the hustle of 52nd st, when Lady Day stepped into that pinhole light… Fantastic.

This is such a great story. Stan Levey so inspiring.

@educateme8455

3 ай бұрын

First time I heard the BeBop I thought.. "There must be a white guy behind all this." 🎶

Got here following the passing of Charlie Watts, who was a big fan. I'm not very knowledgeable on the genre of Jazz, but I'm getting there. Cheers Charlie!

I always tell drummers I work with, especially when its a trio "I don't need a metronome, I need him to be musical. play with me, don't make me have to play you. some get it, some don't. This guy was a true natural....

@JiveDadson

3 жыл бұрын

On the flip side, a soloist needs to be able to lay back off the beat without the drummer lagging along with.

I just want to say that Stan had had 7000 rads of radiation before these videos and with his hilarious sense of humor he said, 8000 you turn into a toad. He was very brave to do all this talking because he didn't talk as well as he used to and it burned his saliva glands out and he had to chew gum. I think he would like that I mentioned that

@cozeeetv

3 жыл бұрын

Respect ✊🏾 how is he now?

@angelalevey9981

3 жыл бұрын

@@cozeeetv Stan passed in 2005, much too young and life has never been the same, thanks for asking

@angelalevey9981

3 жыл бұрын

Stan passed away in 2005@@cozeeetv

@StephenAntKneeBk5

3 жыл бұрын

@@angelalevey9981 We mourn his loss as we continue to listen to his wonderful music. What an wonderful person he was.

@angelalevey9981

3 жыл бұрын

@@ronniecohen5668 Stan didn't like to complain and we didn't talk much about it but he had a condition in the palm of his hands called Dyputren's Contracture and he just couldn't play with the fluidity that he was used to

Great documentary.Love everything Stan Levey was involved in.

Exceptional Americans creating a new American art form. Opening the treasure chest. They raised the ceiling for all of us.

Stan was sooo modest in this video. "They liked me." Some call it luck but the truth of the matter remains he could flat out play!

Bird’s hair was sticking straight up like Don King’s. That’s a funny description. Great little documentary.

Thank you so much!!! Wow! Mr. Levy it is an honor!

It appears that this was made in 2004 (timely since Stan Levey passed away in 2005). Thank you @TubeworksVideoChannel for uploading this superb documentary.

Utterly compelling documentary.

I met Stan Levey when I was in High School in Van Nuys Ca. In 1971. His son played piano and sax and played in our blues band called "Blues Conception".

@nuqwestr

Жыл бұрын

Did Stan have his camera?

The train from NY to LA is stopped somewhere in the SW to take on water. Stan happens to look out the window and notices their strung-out saxophonist Charlie Parker wandering into the distant desert. Bandleader Dizzy Gillespie sends Stan out to hurriedly fetch Parker before the train leaves without him. When Stan catches up to Parker, he asks him where he's going, and advises him that "There's nothing out there that's going to help you." Sweet, sad story.

@allen6924

3 жыл бұрын

Addiction is a muthafuckas worst nightmare. Because you can stop one thing and replace it with another addictive behavior.

Another beautiful documentary about one of the jazz greats from that time.

Wow I could watch about 5 more hours of that.

@TubeworksVideoChannel

2 жыл бұрын

You can watch all of our Stan Levey videos here - kzread.info

MAN, Obviously the Most Experienced and Humble of Them ALL ☝🏽 Mr. Stan Levy .. I'm So Grateful for Your contribution and your Candor ! I've read Many MANY verbal historians who are Musicians (Swing To Bop) for instance Especially With the Modernists of the Day 30' s , 40's and So On , Bravo to You ALL and Hope to Get Inspired by the Wonderful Rhythms of This Era and I can Continue to Pay Homage in My OWN Way👁️ 👆🏾🙏🏾🎨🎶🖼️🖌️✍🏾📝 as Much as I Can Do until I Can Do No More 💓😎👍🏽🕊️🛐

So glad you uploaded this!! I can't believe I can hear such direct stories of the greats. I never heard jazz until I was 17/18 and I haven't been able to listen to anything else since. Parker, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Coleman Hawkins, Herbie Hancock, Armstrong, I take it all in. I'm not the best musician and I probably never will be since I started listening and playing very late and don't have that much talent, but it's still a pleasure to even play at 1% of their skill.

a great film with an amazing story about a man who was born knowing himself. and that aint the half of it. thank you.

Extraordinary! A Heart full of thanks!

Thanks for sharing… priceless memories!!

One of the greatest strongest who ever lived... Just an incredible artist who was admired by all who played with him !... Including bird

yeah ! the whole docu ! so so so great ..........

Always liked Stan Levy. Tasteful supportive musician.

What a great story, I love it.

that was wonderful - hearing the guys that did it talk about it - loved this!

Had a great time with these interviews, thank you very much"

I've been spellbound sitting here listening to this. It's excellent.

OMG! Fantastic cannot begin to describe this gig. I shall repeat with oen and paper to take notes ad I did when I first saw Ken Burn's Jazz documentary when Napster first came out. Man oh man what a fabulous jazz education that way baby! So here we go again 30 years later and I now own a bar and restaurant where this music really helps us swing and sell good food and booze and good times. God bless the greats of jazz and thank you so much for your beautiful contribution to the world of music and my success as a restaurantuer.

So enjoyable! As a jazz musician myself (alto sax and guitar), steeped in the bop tradition and having spent decades absorbing and appreciating the contributions of ALL the musicians mentioned in this video, I found this impossible to stop watching.. the commentary, clips, stills, anecdotes, and the entire flow of this was extremely well done.. a beautiful tribute to a music that is still vital today. I only hope younger players today will discover the recordings of that era (roughly 1945-1955) and be as electrified and transformed by it as I was when I discovered it in the late '70s and 1980's.. Bebop Lives!

This video is so rich , it's priceless

Fabulous. Never knew anything about Stan Levey. Now I do.

@johnstag1391

3 жыл бұрын

Stupendous

I remember max roach at jacks drum shop in Boston he gave a few of us young drummers a masterclass as it’s called now in the 50 s

"That was the most fun I had with my clothes on"😂😂 Miles Davis

Thank you so much for this incredibly well made movie. It’s done from the point of view of a musician whose name I had only heard and seen in passing. It was refreshing to hear the story of this great music thru the eyes Stan, who was lesser known but well loved by the masters that we are all quite familiar with.

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

4:40 “all built in” love the spirit in this

What a gent, many thanks.

This is a good doc.

That shot of Zoot Sims is awesome. This covers a lot of turf. Marvelous.

Fantastic! One of the best Jazz docs ever!

Thanks for uploading. Just when I thought I knew all the bigs. I get lucky, again.

How cool this is, wonderful to hear these stories!

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for the vid! Oh, what an important time in American history. Magical!

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Great Story! Be Bop Lives!!

What a treasure, this wonderful and soulful document, so beautifully made. I wish to the heavens that my old buddy Ted Gerike was still here to supply me with more of his anecdotes about these greats. But I'm here now, and it's a thril to encounter this mindblowingly expansive talent thoroughly realized and ready to roll out so early iin his youth. Thank you so much for this. More viewings and much listening are ndeed in order.

Wonderful reminiscences of unprecedented times. The talent of these people in relation to their commercial success was inversely proportionate to today's talent (or the lack thereof) and the riches that are acquired. Criminal. The experimenting back then, pushing boundaries and one's peers to do better, indicates it was all about the love of the music. What an era to be in the midst of it all ...be it a player, or a civilian.

Thank you for preserving and posting this incredible history !

You dont need money to have a rich life its about doing what you love cant buy it these guys were magic .

@oldscool75

Жыл бұрын

Amen!!!

@nigelcreasy6046

Жыл бұрын

So so true

Great documentary. Thank you!

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you too!

Great documentary! A MUST watch! Thank you for sharing.

Really great documentary, thanks for uploading this!

Great to hear all these folks, and see these great images. Thanks for this great upload. Stan Levey seems like such a cool guy.

@angelalevey9981

3 жыл бұрын

He was a cool guy, funny, kind and everybody loved him

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Stan was the coolest. I’ve never met anyone cooler.

I really enjoyed this documentary! Thanks for posting it.

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Our pleasure!

Glad Stan told his story with so many great musicians who gave him due credit. His luck was phenomenal at both ends of life... Starting out by chance with Gillespie and Parker, and ending with the foresight to personally tell his story just in time. God Bless you, Stan.

What a drummer musician man legend never forgotten for sure thank you for video I've seen it before never tiring

Thanks for posting.

Thank you for sharing this vital info, to your viewing audience.

This an incredible gem of a video, Thank you!

This is a fantastic video. Thank you

Thank you 🙏

Thank you Angela. Love to you and your kids for putting this together. All heart.

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your kind thoughts however this video was a joint effort produced by Stan and myself originally published in 2004 as part of our DVD documentary “Stan Levey The Original Original”.

@pranadistribution6033

3 жыл бұрын

@@TubeworksVideoChannel Apologies and thank you for pointing me in the direction of the original video. I'll certainly look for it. I was lucky to meet Stan when I was a kid. He was with Ella. the rhythm section came to our house on a few consecutive years. They were playing the Fairmont Hotel circuit if I have it right. Beautiful guys. He was an original...

@angelalevey9981

3 жыл бұрын

You're welcome anyway LOL

@davidkreuter4620

9 ай бұрын

Jazz lovers lament he was out with the Woody Herman band.

Awesome!!!

Brilliant! Thanks for posting.

Loved every minute....... Thanks and Blessings!

Lovely film, highly recommended!

Amazing video - thanks for this.

Brilliant documentary. Thank you for producing it and sharing this vitally important history with us. I read the name "Stan Levey" on all those classic record jackets and never knew anything about this great artist other than a few passages in the biographies and histories. Great job all the way around.

@professorhamamoto

3 жыл бұрын

@@ronniecohen5668 This great documentary inspired me to order the autobiography of Mr. Levey. So much good material being written about jazz over the past fifteen or twenty years.

Great look at greater listening! I loved all of it. It helped to establish my life work in jazz

Best movie on Jazz right here

Superb! Many thanks for posting this wonderful documentary.

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

What a time - wish I could've been there just to experience the magic

Thanks for the awesome vid. 🎶🔥

Thanks for the fantastic information and document

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

I always heard about o many of the great drummers, some how never heard of Stan.What a Ledgend.This cat played with so many heavyweights. Never heard anything about him until now.Thank you so much for posting this video.

@silva777

3 жыл бұрын

Sorry to have to say this, but there were many excellent white jazz musicians who were never recognized. Care to guess why?

@nuqwestr

Жыл бұрын

@@silva777 Stan got out of the business and became a photographer. Shove you a-hole ness.

This is a great documentary on history of jazz . Especially on bebop

I was fortunate enough to hear Miles once at “Shelley’s Mann Hole”. Jazz club in Hollywood California. Miles said not one word. Tony Williams said it all with his drumming. I was mesmerized. Wayne Shorter was impeccable. Decked out in a TUX. Nothing moving but his fingers over his tenor saxophone. It was an amazing sight.

@terrycarthy4433

Жыл бұрын

Great story ; be nice if Miles acknowledged the audience.....

@grouchosays

Жыл бұрын

Well, Miles was well-known to have had an anger problem. He also despised white people. There are many reports of white patrons coming up to him and clubs with him screaming at them. This is paradoxical because it was white people who made him rich and famous. Without white people thinking he was so great for 50 years, he would have been a nobody. Of course, Miles is not the subject of this documentary, but Charlie Parker fired him because he couldn’t play fast enough. So much for Miles.

@genetherod

Жыл бұрын

You were lucky. When I saw Davis at the Crescendo on the Strip in about 1959 he would play and solo with his back to the paying audience. At the time this was a phase he was going through and many jazz critics and commentators tried to analyze the motivations. Eventually that phase passed.

@grouchosays

Жыл бұрын

@@genetherod One thing that never passed was his hatred for white people.

@nuqwestr

Жыл бұрын

Shelley "Manne". Stan "Levey"

loved it thank u!

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Great film, thank you so much for posting this. :-)

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

I first became aware of Stan Levey from Ken Burns' "Jazz" series. Besides being a great drummer he's a likeable personality.

@SkullOfTheAbyss

3 ай бұрын

😮❤ok😂

This was a great document into early jazz in first hand testimony. I hope this is a series, I will seek it out. Thanks for the upload, cheers and Godbless.

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the kind words. You are welcome to view and subscribe to all of the videos on our channel here: kzread.info

This Wonderful film brings me back to Sunday evenings 7 pm 1960 in Ireland, listening to steve race jazz hour I was 14 and this music came into my soul My mothers uncle had been in N York in the 30ies,40, 50ies and brought a Hugh collection of records including. Jazz. I wore them Out playing them on our old phonograph ..”his masters voice”I suppose for me in a positive way it’s the ultimate nostalgia or a longing to return to the innocence of that time...🇨🇮⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️❤️

Great doc!! Thanks

for people really into Jazz, the days of Birdland must have been the best, for 98 cents you got to see all the legends play every night of the week for 8 hours a night. in today's money that is still only something like 13 bucks.

@PaulTheSkeptic

3 жыл бұрын

Must have been amazing.

outstanding documentary. thanks

@TubeworksVideoChannel

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

beautiful!

The best jazz documentary I've seen. The last thing there, Hank Jones saying how elegant these players were. I totally agree as I got to play with Ben Tucker and became friends with Yusef Lateef, Sam Rivers and others. These guys had a class about them. Also they had a mind that was beyond any personal ego . They had an elevated consciousness. Now I've played with lots of famous rock sidemen but there's too much ego, too much greed and selfishness with them. Even with so many of these college guys, they are all into drinking and pills. Just childish. Anyway, this video brought back a lot of great memories. I don't know, the future doesn't feel or look right to me. Gotta keep growing.

Fantastic

Many thanks. Gives good inside in what really happened besides all the legend talk.

I thoroughly enjoyed this video !!

Really great stuff here about a guy whose name I've always known but not much more. What an amazing life! All those guys. Music just isn't the same any more. It's been corporatized and digitized and stripped of its harmonic complexity for all but the most ardent followers of poorly selling genres. There are still great artists of course, but are they breaking new ground like these people and so many others were back then? The 40's alone saw the birth of bop, bluegrass, nascent rock and roll, increasingly electrified and jazzy western swing, urban blues taking shape, etc. And that's just the US. What's happening today seems mostly the same as it was a decade ago, even two. Not sure we'll ever see pioneering artists of this caliber again, creating whole new musical vistas. Like ever.

@Veaseify

Жыл бұрын

Its really difficult to keep pushing boundaries without the music just becoming bewildering to non musicians. Classical composers got to the same point in the 1950's where if you don't want to be accused of sounding like somebody else you just go to extremes that are only appreciated by people with a decent grasp of music theory, it's no longer entertainment for casual listeners.

If you enjoyed this video featuring Stan Levey please check out my other videos of Stan's career at kzread.info

thanks for sharing💙