[Harp-L] Harmonica Virtuoso Howard Levy Releases New CD “Tonight and Tomorrow” on Chicago Session

[Randy Singer <randy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 this is a great bio on our diatonic friend, champion, and  
iconoclastic progenitor. howard levy.

http://crossharpchronicles.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/harmonica-virtuoso-howard-levy-releases-new-cd-tonight-and-tomorrow-on-chicago-sessions/
Harmonica Virtuoso Howard Levy Releases New CD “Tonight and Tomorrow”  
on Chicago Sessions

Grammy Award winner, founding member of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones,  
and harmonica virtuoso plays piano and harmonica on this new album of  
original compositions. These songs span his entire career, from 1969  
to present.

With a stellar rhythm section: bassist Larry Gray (Ramsey Lewis Trio)  
and drummer Ernie Adams (Al DiMeola Electric Band).

“When you combine this iconoclastic skill with his energetic yet  
lyrical approach to improvising, you get a style that has beguiled  
artists from across the musical spectrum – from newgrass banjoist Béla  
Fleck to post-bopper Ben Sidran, folkies Steve Goodman and Bonnie  
Koloc to the Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil, Cuban saxist  
Paquito D’Rivera to “word jazz” creator Ken Nordine, all of whom have  
featured Levy’s harmonica on their recordings. His harp playing can  
easily detract from Levy’s piano praxis, which he displays on many of  
the more than 200 recordings he’s made. The piano remains his first  
instrument, and he always greets it like an old friend, embracing it  
in his lanky limbs and long thin fingers, before putting it through  
its paces.


 Levy has technique for miles, matched by a sterling musicianship  
that lets him blister the ears with rapid-fire runs or soothe the  
senses with lullaby harmonies. And his piano work, like his  
repertoire, reflects his unique and wide-ranging set of influences,  
comprising balkan folk tunes, bluegrass, several Brazilian idioms,  
klezmer, mainstream jazz, various middle-eastern traditions, and rock  
through the ages.” – Neil Tesser (from the liner notes).

Howard Levy is a musician without limits. His musical adventures  
include journeys into jazz, pop, rock, world music, Latin, classical,  
folk, blues, country, theater and film. He has appeared on hundreds of  
CD’s, won a Grammy and a Joseph Jefferson Award, and performed many  
times on American and European television.

Acknowledged to be the world’s most advanced diatonic harmonica  
player, Howard has revolutionized the playing of his instrument and  
taken it into totally new territory. He is also an accomplished  
composer and pianist, and plays many other instruments including  
flute, ocarina, mandolin, saxophone and percussion.

Throughout his career, Howard has performed and recorded with scores  
of famous artists including Paul Simon, Kenny Loggins, Donald Fagen/ 
Steely Dan, Dolly Parton, Styx, Paquito D’Rivera, Kurt Elling, Ken  
Nordine, John Prine, Rabih Abou-Khalil and many others. He was a  
founding member of the trailblazing group Bela Fleck and the  
Flecktones, with whom he won a Grammy in 1997.

Howard has made many appearances on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home  
Companion”, is music director of Chévere, Chicago’s hottest Latin-Jazz- 
Fusion Band , and tours and records with Trio Globo.

He has given over 20 performances of his Concerto for Diatonic  
Harmonica and Orchestra.

Howard studied classical music at The Manhattan School of Music, pipe  
organ with Carl Lambert, and Jazz at Northwestern University. As a  
music educator, he has taught hundreds of students privately and guest  
lectured at Harvard, Berklee, Dartmouth College, Northwestern  
University, and many others. Born in New York City, Howard Levy is a  
long-time resident of Evanston, IL.

What is CHICAGO SESSIONS?

CHICAGO SESSIONS is a jazz record label featuring the best Chicago  
jazz artists, from the established to the undiscovered. We produce  
exclusive, high quality Compact Discs, which focus on the original  
compositions of each artist.

CD’S AVAILABLE AT:
www.chicagosessions.com