Bass great Tony Levin on Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon and King Crimson
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You can hear it in the joyful bounce of Paul Simon’s “Late in the Evening” and the prayerful cadence of Peter Gabriel’s “Don’t Give Up”. It winds its way through the knotty rhythms of King Crimson and holds up the bottom end of songs by John Lennon, Pink Floyd and Alice Cooper.
Tony Levin’s bass guitar has served as a foundation, propellant or melodic counterbalance to some of the most innovative, influential and popular music of the past 50 years. But when I visit the musician at home in Kingston, in New York State’s Hudson Valley, he is focused on the present. Later this month, he will release a solo album, Bringing it Down to the Bass.
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Levin built the new album around bass parts and posed himself the same question for each track: “Who’s the drummer who would best envision this piece and take it to a better place?” The result is that he is joined by Manu Katché and Jerry Marotta from Peter Gabriel’s bands, former Sting drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and session supremo Steve Gadd, among others.
Also this month, Levin will embark on a tour with Beat, a new supergroup playing 1980s material by pioneering progressive rockers King Crimson and featuring the stellar line-up of virtuoso guitarists Adrian Belew and Steve Vai and highly regarded Tool drummer Danny Carey. They will play music from Discipline (1981), Beat (1982) and Three of a Perfect Pair (1984), an era when Crimson consisted of leader Robert Fripp, Belew, Levin and drummer Bill Bruford.
