Frank R. Hayde is the author of The Mafia and the Machine:
The Story of the Kansas City Mob, and Zion National Park: The Story
Behind the Scenery. He lives in Grand Junction, CO.
Charlie Watts is the legendary drummer for the Rolling
Stones.
Stan Levey is without a doubt one of the greatest drummers ever
and one of the founding fathers of modern music. Along with Klook,
Max and Art, there was Stan Levey, who learned directly from Dizzy
when they were both living in Philadelphia. As a result, Stan
contributed to this beautiful art form and played on some pivotal
recordings. Jazz Heavyweight is fascinating!”
Wallace Roney, Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter
I think Jazz Heavyweight is a piece of jazz history that’s very
important to document. Stan is a link. His life is an amazing story
and he was a lovely man. I was totally in awe of meeting him and
the legacy that he carries.”
Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones drummer
Stan Levey was the drummer every be-bopper wanted in his rhythm
section. And with good reason. Jazz Heavyweight illuminates his
role as an ultimate insider and important playermusically and
otherwiseduring one of jazz history's most vital eras.”
Don Heckman, International Review of Music
Jazz Heavyweight embraces the life and times of a renaissance man
in a topsy turvy world, rich with personalities and celebrities.
Having lived through some of this crazy world with Stan and my Dad,
this biography really hit home. A must read.”
Frank Marshall, motion picture director and producer
It has been my privilege to have known and worked with Stan Levey.
Stan was one of the greatest drummers of our time. While reading
this book I was reminded of the many facets of Stan and it invoked
several memories of our years working together in the early 1960s
with Dizzy Gillespie. He truly had a strong sense of musicality and
most importantly soul, which was evident in each and every
performance.”
Lalo Schifrin, Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer
Stan Levey was a superb, yet underrated drummer on both the New
York bebop scene and the West Coast milieu. Frank Hayde’s engaging
biography shines a welcome light on this remarkable percussionist
and delivers choice stories, a great many in Levey’s own voice,
lending a deep credibility to this book.”
Zan Stewart, ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award recipient
"In a straightforward style, Hayde tells the story of Stan Levey, a
self-taught bebop drummer whose life is truly the stuff of legend.
The tale, which opens a striking foreword by Rolling Stones drummer
Charlie Watts, concerns a scrappy Jewish kid of North Philadelphia,
the child a mobbed-up boxing-manager father and a musically
inclined mother who encouraged her son in his interests. His early
years seem propelled by a desire to play the drums like nobody ever
had, and his driving style provided a rhythmic backdrop for stars
such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Peggy Lee,
Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand. Levey boxed
professionally for a time before Parker introduced him to drugs;
the latter eventually led to a two-year stint in prison, which
Hayde handles without sensationalism. Levey was a fixture among the
Big Apple beboppers and a prime mover on the West Coast scene and
Hollywood sessions, and Hayde’s account of his exploits takes
readers beyond jazz icons and celebrities into fascinating
anecdotes, personal struggles, and a truly charmed life.
Publishers Weekly
"[A] fast-paced biography of the late great jazz drummer Stan Levey
. . . 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, Lalo
Schifrin, Jay McShann and many others. Levy's recollections, taken
from various tapes, notes, and letters, push the book forward with
their percussive style . . . Levey roomed with Bird for a while and
takes verbal snapshots that are among the most vivid descriptions
in print or film of the tragedy that was Bird. . . . 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."
All About Jazz
"a colorful and meticulously researched work . . . a welcome
addition to jazz literature and scholarship”
Broad Street Review
"one of the finest jazz biographies in recent years”
All About Jazz
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