Stan Levey: From Left to Right

The JazzProfiles Interview

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Bebop was causing the swing drummers fits because of the jabs and stabs required of the left hand and right foot — snare drum and bass drum — against the ride cymbal pattern. The stuff Kenny Clarke had started ten years earlier had developed into a new complex way of playing that meant the "new" drummers had to really develop their ability to play four different patterns all at the same time. The left foot played the hi hats, the right hand the ride pattern — the left hand and right foot played the drums. The bass drum sound needed to punch out the patterns with a kind of "thud" sound, while the snare drum was often tuned loose — kind of funky — with the snares barely against the bottom head.

I originally brought this interview up on my blog, hence the subtitle. Since its original posting, I have expanded it and YouTube has graciously made available more of Stan’s music and I have posted some of these videos at the conclusion so you can listen to Stan in action.

Although the following interview with drummer Stan Levey took place primarily in 1997 when I called him to ask for his input regarding a feature I was writing on the late pianist and vibraphonist Victor Feldman, it really had been going on for over 40 years

By the mid-1990’s, Stan had been retired from active work as a Jazz drummer and studio percussionist for about 25 years.

Stan was always a very straight-talking man and this composite interview reflects that quality which is why I prize it so much.

During the late 1950s, I got to know Stan quite well. He was performing weekly with Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars in Hermosa Beach, CA and I was attempting to flunk out of high school while I studied his drumming technique in-person, as often as possible.

He was always kind and generous with his help, fatherly in his advice and I learned from him the greatest lesson for any Jazz drummer - to keep time that you could set a watch to. Some of the questions and answers in the interview date back to this early period.

In those days, Stan “The Man” shared the town [the Los Angeles Jazz scene] with Mel Lewis and Shelly Manne and the three of them - along with Larry Bunker who always claimed that he picked up their left-overs-  provide an aspiring, young Jazz drummer with a terrific laboratory in which to study.