Bassist Tony Levin has credits from Peter Gabriel and David Bowie to Tom Waits, Bryan Ferry and many, many more.
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Beat: Belew/Vai/Levin/Carey play ’80s King Crimson
When: Nov. 25, 8 p.m.
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 601 Smithe St., Vancouver
The Beat tour kicked off on Sept. 12. The day after, Levin released his latest star-studded solo project titled Bringing It Down to The Bass.
“Adrian proposed the idea for Beat in 2017,” said Levin. “He first asked Robert (Fripp, King Crimson founder and guitarist) if he wanted to do it and he declined, so he decided on Steve Vai as he is someone with the technical chops required to play Robert’s parts as well as make it something in his own right. Then COVID came around, all the guys were on other tours and I had originally planned a small tour around my new solo album.”
Bringing together a band like this isn’r easy. But when the players realized that they could make Beat happen, they all jumped on board. Levin says that being able to perform with artists of this stature is more than enough to shift plans. It’s an approach he has used throughout his long career.
“Since age 12, I’ve been the kind of bass player who wants to make some good music with some great players,” he said. “I missed a few good ones over the years, but mostly I was in the right place at the right time. That’s the whole story of my music.”
Playing classical double-bass in a symphony was Levin’s first goal. But landing the post in the Rochester Philharmonic as he entered the Eastman School of Music, he realized the gig wasn’t for him.
“I loved the music, but not the life of playing the same notes with the same guys every night,” he said. “The fantastic drummer Steve Gadd taught at my school and hired me for gigs and I quickly found my place in jazz and fusion/progressive rock. Every bass player wants to be with a solid drummer, and I’ve been fortunate to play with some amazingly talented ones.”
This is reflected on Bringing It Down to The Bass which boasts a spectacular selection of drummers including teacher Gadd as well as former Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck and Sting sideman Vinnie Colaiuta, Dream Theatre’s Mike Portnoy and many others. Levin says he wanted to give himself the “gift” of having the drummer he wanted on each particular song play on it and pulled it off.
He aims to tour the album once the Beat tour is done, laughing that one of the new songs is titled Road Dogs. He tours constantly.
“I certainly didn’t know when I wrote the song that I would be doing a 64-date bus tour of two laps around the U.S. and Canada,” he said. “But it’s what I love to do, even if it hasn’t become easier as you get older. What has stayed the same from the very start is those two or three hours that happen on stage every night make the 22 hours it takes to get there totally worthwhile.”
Of all the King Crimson variations that Levin has played in, he says the trio of albums this tour is focused on were unlike anything else he recorded with the seminal band. Discipline, Beat and Three of A Perfect Pair brought the group of Levin, Fripp, Belew and drummer Bill Bruford new fans with different tastes from the band’s first generation of late ’60s followers. In many ways, the albums paved the way for modern prog metal.
“It was a very conscientious effort and creative effort to make music that was worthwhile and as good as it could be,” he said. “It was my first exposure to these two unique guitarists with their instantly identifiable signature sound as well as Bill Bruford, who has his own unique style dating back to Yes. Thankfully, I had the Chapman Stick which enabled me to try my best to belong in the room with those guys.”
“When I got one in 1976, I really expected it to catch on with more players because it is a very interesting instrument,” he said. “It is a relatively new instrument in years and a wild one that covers a lot of ground. There are techniques still to be discovered as it is still very wide open as its uses and lent itself to the ’80s era King Crimson output.”
Although Levin is one of the most accomplished musicians on this unique instrument, he says that it remains challenging to play live the music the band made at that time. About two thirds of the Beat show includes his Stick work.
He expects his chops to be at their peak by the time the show comes to Vancouver as the band will have 50-plus shows under its belt. Levin admits that he wasn’t sold on the project until he found out who was involved and knew that it would be nothing like a tribute show.
Stick Men will go on tour in March 2025. Dates TBA.