Ron Levy

[LAL]

Anyone heard of this artist?

He's got a couple of albums on a label called Bullseye Blues and a few more on other labels.

Any of these worth checking out?

[Dan Gould]

Anyone heard of this artist?

He's got a couple of albums on a label called Bullseye Blues and a few more on other labels.

Any of these worth checking out?

We're talking about the keyboardist who played with B.B. in the early 70s?

If you go to Rhapsody.com, you can check out this album:

Kind of a mixed bag, as I think Levy has gotten into the acid jazz scene, but there are quite a few good tracks on this disc, with guests Lowell Fulson, Albert Collins, Ronnie Earl, B.B., Freddie Hubbard (one of those acid jazz tunes that I couldn't deal with) and several others.

The cool thing about Rhapsody is that the free account allows you to play 25 tracks a month, so you can select the entire album and listen to every track and decide if you want to purchase.

[LAL]

We're talking about the keyboardist who played with B.B. in the early 70s?

If you go to Rhapsody.com, you can check out this album:

Kind of a mixed bag, as I think Levy has gotten into the acid jazz scene, but there are quite a few good tracks on this disc, with guests Lowell Fulson, Albert Collins, Ronnie Earl, B.B., Freddie Hubbard (one of those acid jazz tunes that I couldn't deal with) and several others.

The cool thing about Rhapsody is that the free account allows you to play 25 tracks a month, so you can select the entire album and listen to every track and decide if you want to purchase.

Thanks for the information!

Short bio on Ron Levy from AMG (with some outdated information):

Organist/pianist Ron Levy has devoted most of his career to keeping the flame of funky, bluesy soul-jazz alive. Born Reuvin Zev ben Yehoshua Ha Levi in 1959 in Cambridge, MA, Levy played clarinet as a child but switched to piano after seeing Ray Charles at age 13. When he encountered the music of Jimmy Smith, Billy Preston, and Booker T. & the MG's, he fell in love with the Hammond B-3 and made the switch. Levy began working the Boston blues club scene as a teenager, and was hired by Albert King in 1971, before even graduating from high school. He spent a year and a half with King, and then joined B.B. King's backing band, where he remained for the next seven years. He also began working with the Rhythm Rockers in 1976, an association that lasted four years, and then became a member of Roomful of Blues from 1983-1987. It was during that time that Levy recorded his first session as a leader, 1985's Ron Levy's Wild Kingdom for the Black Top label. Safari in New Orleans followed in 1988, after which Levy moved to the Bullseye Blues label, where he eventually became an in-house producer (an area where he's garnered seven Grammy nominations). His albums for Bullseye Blues include 1992's B-3 Blues and Grooves and 1996's Zim Zam Zoom: Acid Blues on B-3. 1998's Greaze Is What's Good (recorded for Cannonball) featured an all-star roster of guests, including Freddie Hubbard, Melvin Sparks, David T. Walker, Steve Turre, Idris Muhammad, and Preston Shannon. Since 1988 Levy hasn't released anything under his own name, but continues to tour regularly and collaborate with and produce artists like Jimmy King, Karl Denison and Charles Earland.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Levy made a good album for his own Cannonball label, which died the death, regrettably. Since then, he has been recording for his own label, Levtron. These are available from CDBaby.

I have "Finding my way" with Mel Sparks and Karl Denson, and I think it's damn good!

I mean to get the others, when I can get round to it. I think there are about 5 others by now.

People may be put off by the fact that he uses a drum machine on these albums. He also double tracks a lot of the instruments himself. I don't care; I like the results.

MG

[RJ Spangler]

Ron is another guy that I have worked with quite a bit. We worked on 4 good (in my opinion) CDs for the now defunt Cannonball label; two for Johnnie Bassett, one for Alberta Adams plus comp of Detroit Blues.

Ron is a great guy and count him a friend. He was at onetime, a co-owner of Cannonball, which was a pretty strong label in 90's. Well distributed and decent recording budgets and PR. As mentioned, he did play quite a bit with BB King and also Alberta King as well.

He produced a bunch of sessions for Blacktop -- check out his output on allmusic.com. Its most impressive, including a fine CD with Charles Brown.

After the demise of Cannonball, Ron moved back to New England from the midwest and concentrated on Acid Jazz CDs and touring. We had him here in Detroit a number of times. Often his CDs featured Karl Denson.

Today Ron is still licensing his music for TV & movies but isn't playing, instead, he is managing his property, getting married and getting deeper in to his Jewsish faith. Levites (spelling), were the musicians in his faith he always told me.

Ron is a great cat!

[GregN]

Ron is another guy that I have worked with quite a bit. We worked on 4 good (in my opinion) CDs for the now defunt Cannonball label; two for Johnnie Bassett, one for Alberta Adams plus comp of Detroit Blues.

Ron is a great guy and count him a friend. He was at onetime, a co-owner of Cannonball, which was a pretty strong label in 90's. Well distributed and decent recording budgets and PR. As mentioned, he did play quite a bit with BB King and also Alberta King as well.

He produced a bunch of sessions for Blacktop -- check out his output on allmusic.com. Its most impressive, including a fine CD with Charles Brown.

After the demise of Cannonball, Ron moved back to New England from the midwest and concentrated on Acid Jazz CDs and touring. We had him here in Detroit a number of times. Often his CDs featured Karl Denson.

Today Ron is still licensing his music for TV & movies but isn't playing, instead, he is managing his property, getting married and getting deeper in to his Jewsish faith. Levites (spelling), were the musicians in his faith he always told me.

Ron is a great cat!

Hey RJ,

What's up my brother??? Yeah, I will say that Ron is great. And Cannonball was also a wonderful label.

I had something, also, by him with Jimmy Vaughan but the title escapes me. In short, Ron Levy is a wonderful player fully worth checking out. Will also add, that anything my friend RJ is on, is a must have! A W.C. Handy nominee, RJ Spangler is a fine musician, benefactor, and a true mover and shaker in the music community.

Greg Nagy

[chris olivarez]

Greg could the one that Ron did with Jimmie Vaughn be one of the Wild Kingdom cd's? My first memory of Ron was seeing him with BB King's band one night at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. I've always liked his playing but I only have one of the acid jazz cd's. I've got a feeling that will change.

[GregN]

Greg could the one that Ron did with Jimmie Vaughn be one of the Wild Kingdom cd's? My first memory of Ron was seeing him with BB King's band one night at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. I've always liked his playing but I only have one of the acid jazz cd's. I've got a feeling that will change.

Wild Kingdom! Yeah, that's it, with Wayne Bennett also on guitar?

Cool stuff, imo.

g