Tony Levin Interview at TalkBass

yeah... it´s a great interview!

hope you get to interview more cool bassplayers...

btw... I printed it out and have it on my night shelf..

 

It´s really cool, I even stole it from The-Bass so I could have it in my room!

 

O Happy day....nice to go to TB home page and see TL on the front. Thanks for the interview. I'm such a fan geek of his it's pathetic. He is hands down one of the best musicians in his genre(s) going.

All those with open and piqued minds....check out his solo and collaborative work sold on his website. You won't be disappointed. Caves of the Iron Mountain and Bruford/Levin Upper Extremities are fantastic. Also anything with CGT. And if you haven't listened to his work on King Crimson's Discipline (as well as the rest of the guys) you're missing out on one of the greatest recordings made.

Just my 2-6 cents.......

 

I was lucky to get a chance to catch the last half hour of his performance with the California Guitar Trio. (Or should I say I was unforntunate to ONLY catch the last half hour???)

Anyway, his playing that night definitely had an impact on me. His fretless playing was amazing. He really sounds "like himself". It's not so much his technique - it's that he has such a distinct sense of melody. He really knows how to work his fretless to create an aura of mystery. If you get a chance to see him play, definitely do so! It will be a worthwhile and refreshing experience. Hopefully I'll get to see him play some time soon again in a setting that allows him to really put himself into the music. (The CGT gave Tony a lot of room so that he could work his magic.)

 

I saw him in Dallas with CGT..it was a great show. There's a photo of him and I that my boyfriend took on my homepage.


http://hometown.aol.com/secretworld31/myhomepage/index.html

 

Cool interview. It's always fun to read an interview with Tony. You get the feeling that he would be a great person to have over for dinner- a very down to earth and honest person.

And damn, he sure can play too. Mr smooth... never a wrong note.

I was very disappointed he wasn't with Crimson when they were here a couple of months ago.

 

When I was young bass player geek who thought that it was about gear and being able to play fast and all that crap, I really held Tony Levin in high esteem (maybe because his work on pop albums by Peter gabriel, John Lennon, etc. seemed possible more than some of the crazy prog stuff I was listening to at the time). I actually met him outside a Peter Gabriel gig in Philly and was bugging him (as only a 16 year old can) about what gear I could buy to get that really cool tone on "Don't give Up". I was pestering him about strings, preamps, compressors, trying to figure out how to get that sound. He took a second and grabbed my hand and said "all bass is about what you do with your fingers and your heart". and rode away on his bike. Now I am much older, have been playng for 18 years and , it has to be said, have a really fantastic tone. I apprecaite Tony Levin even more today because I feel like he set me off on a more rewarding path than if I was a gearhead. He took a few seconds to give a geeky kid some very valuable advice and it really helped.

 

Funny what makes an inspiring player. Lots of players have speed, style, splash, evident skill and so forth...but it's rare to find genuine character like Levin has. He's a musician/artist above being a bass player, as well as being an accessible, non-pretentious person who doesn't mind answering an email or two, or offering an apiring player some honest advice. Not to mention the scope and breadth of his musical horizons, which extend everywhere.

Just finished reading Beyond The Bass Cleff, which I bought from his website. Hilarious as hell, and lots of more great advice and stories. Did you know he used a diaper wedged between his strings to get a certain sound for a Gabriel song?