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Heaven & Earth: Live and in the Studio 1997-2008
by John Kelman
Yet another year, yet another characteristically detailed and chronologically contextualized King Crimson mega-box set. Except that 2019 is no typical year. And Heaven & Earth is no typical King Crimson box set. While Heaven & Earth: Live and in the Studio 1997-2008 completes (well, almost) the series of box sets documenting King Crimson's original commercial recordings (and so much more), it's far from the group's first (or only) release to go along with the current three-drummer ...
Continue ReadingLevin Minnemann Rudess: From the Law Offices of Levin Minnemann Rudess
by John Kelman
It may look good on paper, but you can never really know how “super group" collaborations are going to work out until they actually get together and do something. In the case of the power trio named after its members--bassist/stick player Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Stick Men), drummer/guitarist Marco Minnemann (Steven Wilson, The Aristocrats, Joe Satriani) and keyboardist Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment), all names familiar to progressive rock fans--it would seem a low-risk proposition, given ...
Continue ReadingLevin Brothers: Levin Brothers
by John Kelman
He may have ultimately become best-known in the progressive rock world for his ongoing work with King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Stick Men and the Crimson ProjeKct, but 68 year-old bassist and stick player Tony Levin has no shortage of jazz credentials, playing with everyone from Gary Burton and Mike Mainieri to Chuck Mangione and Buddy Rich from the late '60s through the early '70s. Classically trained like his younger sibling, brother Pete has stayed more decidedly in the jazz world ...
Continue ReadingLevin Minnemann Rudess: Levin Minnemann Rudess
by John Kelman
For a first crack at a fresh idea for Lazy Bones Records--three well-known musicians brought together to create improv-based music with a minimum of planning--Levin Torn White (2011) was a set that, beyond finding common ground amongst bassist/stick master Tony Levin, guitar sound sculptor David Torn and drummer Alan White, also proved, unequivocally, that White is capable of far more than he's demonstrated recently with his longstanding membership in the overly inflated dinosaur of Yes. But Levin Minnemann Rudess is ...
Continue ReadingPark West, Chicago, Illinois August 7, 2008
by John Kelman
When it was announced, in late 2003, that touch guitarist Trey Gunn was leaving perennial art rockers King Crimson, to be replaced by returning bassist/stickman Tony Levin—a member of the group during its 1980s and 1990s runs—anticipation was high. Gunn's strength was as a virtuosic melodic foil for guitarists Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew as well as holding down the bottom end, but Levin has always been considered Crimson's ultimate groove-meister. When Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison was recruited in ...
Continue ReadingTony Levin: Stick Man
by John Kelman
While he's often (and understandably) considered the creative force behind perennial art rockers King Crimson, cofounder/guitarist Robert Fripp is, in fact, a far more democratic leader than he's given credit. Bassist/Stick man Tony Levin--one of the fundamentals behind the 1980-'84 and 1994-'97 incarnations of Crim, recently returning to the fold after a hiatus during the group's 2000-'03 years--makes clear his contributions to the ever-expanding Crim with Stick Man. Then again, it may well be a case of chicken ...
Continue ReadingThe 21st Century Guide to King Crimson Volume Two: 1981-2003
by John Kelman
While Robert Fripp—erstwhile leader and only remaining member of the group that literally shook the foundations of the rock world in 1969 with In the Court of the Crimson King (Discipline Global Mobile)— rankles at those who call the continually evolving band King Crimson a progressive rock band, what band better fits the term progressive? Merriam-Webster defines the word progressive as: “making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities," and “moving forward or onward." ...
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