Event #6: Ted Levine
[PSR#J080600]
PERSONNEL
Ted Levine – soprano sax and alto sax
Michael Musillami – guitar
Peter Madsen – piano
Dave Shapiro – bass
Claire Arenius – drums
TRACKS
1. Inroads
2. Puppets Dance
3. When What It Is Ain't
4. The Star-Crossed Lovers
5. Fumbo
6. Event #6
7. Twilight
8. Mars Bars
about
Saxophonist/composer Ted Levine's Playscape debut documents his three year-old quartet with Musillami, Shapiro, and Arenius. Playscape regular Peter Madsen joins the group for this recording, which showcases Levine's ability to embrace material ranging from straight-ahead jazz to original music with a more experimental edge. The Levine/Madsen duet version of Duke Ellington's "Star Crossed Lovers" would become the impetus for their 2003 duo recording, Night Sounds.
 
 
Reviews
Levine's Event #6 runs the gamut from screaming free-bop to wistful Ellingtonia, nodding along the way in the direction of jazz-rock and New Orleans street music. Indeed, angular, skipping melodies and dissonant harmonies pervade the entire repertory, both compositions and improvisations. And the improvisers incorporate bop, free-bop, rock, blues or whatever else seems appropriate into their choruses, during which they sometimes seem free to go wherever their muses lead. Bassist Dave Shapiro and drummer Claire Arenius make vital contributions to the thick fabric of the music and help assure that it swings when it's supposed to.
— David Franklin, JazzTimes