The Levin Brothers – ‘Levin Brothers’ [Review]

This review could be summed up in a single word: Wow. However, I’m sure you want more detail that that – so here you go:

Given the back-stories of Tony and Pete Levin, it goes without saying that the quality of playing, tone, feel, groove, and so forth on Levin Brothers is almost unparalleled – but this LP is more than just a muso’s wet dream. It’s a vibrant and enchanting listening experience that will make your foot tap, set your brain to ‘hyper-focus’, and even make you laugh from time to time.

Although Levin Brothers is a collection of cool jazz tunes custom-composed to evoke a 1950’s vibe, it’s not merely a CD you can use to play in the background at murder mystery dinner parties. Each player on this long-player – not just the Levin brothers themselves but also Jeff ‘Siege’ Siegel (Drums), David Spinozza (Guitar), Erik Lawrence (Sax), and Steve Gadd (Drums) uses his instrument to speak without words and demand the listener’s full attention. Whether it’s joy, sadness, anger, frustration, relief, or even ambivalence, there’s hardly an emotion in existence that Levin Brothers will not make you feel.

Overall, this is the kind of album that results not just from study and practice, but living. Too many jazz musicians hide behind scales, arpeggios, and extended chord theory, afraid to reveal their true selves. Thank God, then, that releases like this are there to point clearly and insistently in the right direction.

Deep listening is rarely this fun.

Links / Preview

Levin Brothers is out now, and can be ordered via The Levin Brothers’ official website and Lazy Bones Recordings.

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Posted on 20 August 2014