Home » Jazz Articles » Book Review » Drummer Stan Levey Improvised His Life with a Steady Beat
Drummer Stan Levey Improvised His Life with a Steady Beat
By
Frank R. Hayde
224 Pages
ISBN: # 13-978-1595800862
Santa Monica Press
2016
The word "Heavyweight" in the title of this fast-paced biography of the late great jazz drummer Stan Levey is not just a metaphor for his reputation as a musician. Levey, in addition to having been a revered drummer who helped jump-start the bebop movement, was also a fair to middlin' prize fighter! Growing up in Prohibition and Depression era Philadelphia, his father was a fight promoter. Whenever Stan, coming of age in the 1940-50s, needed some bread to pay expenses or feed his heroin habit, he got in the ring and either duked it out or threw the fight for mob money. Eventually, he cleaned up his addiction, stopped boxing, had a great marriage, and worked in the Hollywood studios. Conspicuously white among black musicians, and looking like a narc or a bouncer, Levey was still beloved by his fellows, and was the perfect hire for gigs on account of his natural ability, loyalty, and near-perfect rhythmic grasp of the then new music of modern jazz.
Levey grew up in South and West Philadelphia. His mother was an alcoholic and his father, rude and sometimes violent, cared only for his stable of prize fighters. Left to his own devices, Levey had a natural penchant for rhythm and percussion. Totally self-taught and mistakenly using his left hand on the ride cymbal, he was taken under

Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993

Benny Goodman
clarinet1909 - 1986

Earl Hines
piano1903 - 1983

Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto1920 - 1955
Parker, sadly, got Levey strung out on dope, ultimately leading to a prison sentence and an epiphany in which Levey got clean and sober for the rest of his life. Soon a first call drummer as well as a responsible husband and family man, he eventually settled down to regular gigs at the Lighthouse club in Hermosa Beach, record dates, and tours with the likes of

Stan Kenton
piano1911 - 1979

Peggy Lee
vocals1920 - 2002

Ella Fitzgerald
vocals1917 - 1996

Frank Sinatra
vocals1915 - 1998
This book takes the reader bouncing through Levey's life and times with a lively narrative by author Frank Hayde interspersed with quotes by Levey, his wife Angela, his family, and many luminaries of jazz such as Goodman, Gillespie,

Quincy Jones
arranger1933 - 2024

Lalo Schifrin
arranger1932 - 2025

Jay McShann
piano1909 - 2006
This is a book about one of the most exciting times in the history of jazz when everyone in the country was trying to find his or her own way. A time of guts, glory, and turmoil of which Stan Levey was a prime representative. Hayde is a good writer and weaves all the stories into an exciting single narrative. The only thing you're going to miss in this book is a deep analysis of Levey, the people, the events, and the music of the time. It's more as if you're sitting around the kitchen table or at a bar reminiscing than like the analyst's couch or a professor pontificating. It's a great read, but short on insight.
Tags
Stan Levey
Book Reviews
Victor L. Schermer
United States
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Dizzy Gillespie
Benny Goodman
Earl Hines
Charlie Parker
Stan Kenton
Peggy Lee
Ella Fitzgerald
frank sinatra
Quincy Jones
Lalo Schifrin
Jay McShan
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