
In Levy’s arrangements on Spry, you won’t hear 32nd-notes, odd times, or complex changes. Instead, his playing is slow, patient, and highly intuitive.
With a lifetime of experience accompanying vocalists and singer-songwriters, the jazz guitarist revisits the role of bandleader with his minimalist, intuitive playing on his latest full-length, Spry.
It’s been more than 30 years since Adam Levy first received national attention for his guitar work with Tracy Chapman. With all the well-known vocalists he’s played with since then, it might be easy to overlook his substantial output as a bandleader and his world-class work as a jazz instrumentalist.
His new instrumental trio record, Spry, is a fine reminder. The outing includes a consummate rhythm section of bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Joey Baron. I saw a version of the band in Brooklyn a few nights before I spoke with Levy, with Kenny Wollesen subbing for Baron. Both on record and live, Levy and his band showcase compositions that are succinct, rootsy, and spacious. With a warm tone that contains a slight bite, Levy squeezes all he can out of a few notes. This record has a lot of blues in it; the slow and mid-tempo tunes can be sultry, sly, sometimes evoking song forms that came of age in the ’30s and ’40s. No 32nd-notes, odd times, or complex changes. Rather, he draws you in with slow, patient dialogue, songs that almost seem timeworn, and yet offer a new twist. One could say that his guitar is the singer in this situation. Given that it’s a trio, there’s a lot of highly developed chord work, and much give and take between the players.
Born in 1966, Levy grew up in Los Angeles. Levy’s grandfather, George Wyle, was the music director of television variety shows (The Andy Williams Show, The Flip Wilson Show, Donny & Marie) and introduced the young Levy to the values of song, musicianship, and studio efficiency. He and his grandfather would jam together on standards.
Your Name Here (feat. Larry Grenadier & Joey Baron)
In the jazz orchestra at Thousand Oaks High School, Levy picked up Miles and Monk tunes, and at Los Angeles’ Dick Grove School of Music, he focused on lyrical accompaniment—not the soloing. He took lessons with jazz artists such as Ted Green and Jimmy Wyble. “My biggest musical takeaway from both of them,” says Levy, “was that chords are built from melodies—not the other way around. And then there was the sound. Each of them had a singular sound, the result of their technique and their conception.”
An early influence was Mike Miller, who Levy describes as “fiery yet thoughtful.” Then, seeing the Bill Frisell Quartet in Santa Monica in 1989 made a big impact. “The tunes, the way those four guys played together, Bill’s sound…. In L.A. at that time, shredding seemed to be a way of life,” says Levy. “After I heard Bill, I got into taking better care of each note.”
“My biggest musical takeaway from both of them was that chords are built from melodies—not the other way around.”
Absorbing jazz greats such as Joe Pass, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, and Jim Hall, Levy began to perform standards around town with trios and quartets. Still, it was with singers that he found the preponderance of work. Hearing him play, it’s easy to see why. He is inherently tuneful, tasty; he knows what not to do, which makes his parts supportive, spare, empathetic. His playing is like his speech: quiet, but sure.
On Spry, Adam Levy translates the sparse approach he’s developed as a singer-songwriter accompanist to a trio context, performing with Larry Grenadier on bass and Joey Baron on drums.
These qualities continued to evolve and bring employment throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s when Levy moved to the San Francisco Bay area. He played a ton of duo gigs with local singers in bars and bistros, and continued to develop his instrumental prowess with colleagues such as violinist Jenny Scheinman, bassist Todd Sickafoose, and multi-instrumentalist Robert Burger.
Upon moving to New York in 1996, all of this groundwork eventually led to a gig with the one and only Norah Jones. He says the call came by word of mouth, just as it was with Tracy Chapman. Guitarist Charlie Hunter recommended him to Chapman, while it was drummer Kenny Wollesen who did the same with Jones.
“In L.A. at that time, shredding seemed to be a way of life. After I heard Bill [Frisell], I got into taking better care of each note.”
“When I first started playing with Norah,” says Levy, “we were doing brunch gigs for tourists. Little by little, it grew. We were an opening act for the Indigo Girls, the Dave Matthews Band, Taj Mahal. And just a few months later, we were headlining. It kept getting bigger. Even though I was a bit older than everyone else in the band, I wasn’t more experienced as a touring player. It was new for me, and for all of us. It was thrilling to be part of something that touched so many people. I left Norah’s band at the end of her 2007 European tour for her third album, Not Too Late. I was still enjoying playing music with her, but I needed to get off the road because my wife was ill.”
Levy had already had almost two decades working with singers before working with Jones, but there were still lessons he took from the experience. “Before Norah blew up,” says Levy, “we were playing a gig at a small club, with Norah on a Wurlitzer, Lee Alexander on upright bass, and me on my 1979 ES-335 going through a Princeton. After the gig, she suggested that I turn down. This was kind of surprising, given that I was playing through a small amp at 3 1/2 on the other side of the stage from her.
Adam Levy's Gear
As a student at Los Angeles’ Dick Grove School of Music, Levy absorbed the lesson that “chords are built from melodies, not the other way around.”
Photo by Christoph Bombart
Guitars
- 1964 Gibson ES-335
- 2022 Collings DS2H SB with K&K Pure Mini pickup
Amps & Mics
- Fender Blues Junior with Gefell M71 and Royer R-122 mics
- Telefunken M60 (stereo pair); acoustic
Effects
- Benson Amps Germanium Boost
- JAM Pedals Delay Llama
- JAM Pedals Harmonious Monk
- JHS Overdrive Preamp
- Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man
- Rupert Neve Designs RNDI-S; acoustic
Strings & Picks
- John Pearse 2600 Nickel Wound ( .011–.050; electric)
- John Pearse 250LM 80/20 Bronze (.012–.056; acoustic)
- BlueChip TAD50-3R
“I digested what she said, and I concluded that the real issue was that I was stepping on her. I was still playing in my head, not as part of the composite,” he continues. “Just the keyboard, voice, and bass in this trio setup covered a lot of ground regarding melody, harmony, pulse, and rhythm. What I realized is the guitar could float, be a foil. It didn’t have to duplicate what those other instruments were doing. In small ways I was adding more than the situation needed, so I began to play with more space.”
Levy continues, “The tricky part is you don’t want to go too far in the other direction. If you play too little, the singer says ‘Hey, support me! Where are you?’ So I learned to be strong and supportive.”
“It was thrilling to be part of something that touched so many people.”
A valuable lesson, that. In fact, even today, the quality I most associate with Levy is space. He plays as few notes as possible in any given situation—it’s a minimalist approach. Levy prizes simple forms, dialogue, melody, and concision. In the midst of it all, he twists, bends, and shakes notes, runs double stops up and down the neck, and employs gorgeous voice leading with sophisticated chord work. Minimal doesn’t mean simplistic.
“When I came to New York around 1996, I heard players like Ben Monder, Adam Rogers, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Mike Stern who had monster chops,” Levy shares. “I realized that, much as I might want to be, I wasn’t that guy. I had to find my own lane. But it started before that. Growing up in L.A., all the guys my age were going to Musicians Institute, studying with Scott Henderson, Frank Gambale. It was the ‘school of shred.’ Van Halen and Allan Holdsworth were everywhere. People were playing with more notes and speed than ever before. When I was a teenager, I figured the career path was to try to get Chick Corea to hire you. But I gradually saw I would never be that person, and meanwhile I was working all the time doing my thing. So I went the opposite direction.”
While touring with Norah Jones, Levy wasn’t necessarily ahead of the curve just because he was older than his bandmates, and still learned how to better act as an accompanist from the experience.
Photo by Christoph Bombart
Levy’s guitar sound is integral to his world view. “For some folks,” he says, “a huge pedalboard is the way to go. But I get option anxiety. When my stepdad was a kid, he would never get electric windows on his cars, back when that was an option. He figured it was more stuff that would break. I have a minimalist pedalboard, and a simple guitar.”
For Levy the classic ES-335 gives him everything he needs. His go-to for years has been a 1964 strung with John Pearse strings. His amps for Spry were a Benson Nathan Junior with a 12″ cab and speaker as opposed to the usual 10″, and a mid-’60s Fender Vibro Champ—small, compact, no frills. Levy also uses a Collings I-30, a hollowbody with pickups that are modeled after Gibson P-90s. For acoustic, his choice is a 2022 Collings dreadnought, the DS2H SB. “Anything beyond what I have takes my attention away from the singer. To most people, the tap tempo on a delay is not important. What I tell people is, ‘Pay attention, streamline, and play to your strengths.’”
“I digested what she said, and I concluded that the real issue was that I was stepping on her. I was still playing in my head, not as part of the composite.”
Relatively late in life, this instrumentalist started feeling as if he wanted to sing songs of his own. Several of his recordings since then feature him as a rough-edged but sweet vocalist. He wishes he’d begun writing and singing songs earlier.
The first time Levy performed as a singer-songwriter, at the Living Room in New York City, he ended up playing two sets in a row of the same 10 original songs.
Photo by Christoph Bombart
“I started writing songs while I was part of Norah’s band, just to see if I could do it,” says Levy. “She was supportive, and even recorded two of my songs—‘In the Morning’ and ‘Moon Song.’ Once I had written 10 songs, I decided to book a show to sing them. I’d been a sideman for singer-songwriters for a long time. I figured it was time to step up to the mic and see what it felt like. I booked a 9 p.m. set at the Living Room—one of the small clubs in New York City where Norah got her start. I nervously sang my way through my 10 songs. When I was done and walked offstage, the soundman told me that the 10 p.m. band canceled, and asked if I wanted to do another set. I told him I didn’t have any more songs. He said, ‘No problem. Sing them again.’
“When I woke up the next morning, I could feel that the bug had bitten me,” he continues. “I wanted to keep writing, performing, and recording songs with words—something I never thought I’d do!” He’s spent much of the past 20 years being an in-demand writer and session guitarist, sharing studios and credits with the likes of Allen Toussaint, Meshell Ndegeocello, Vulfpeck, Rufus Wainwright, Gaby Moreno, and numerous others.
“What I realized is the guitar could float, be a foil. It didn’t have to duplicate what those other instruments were doing.”
As Levy looks back on his career, he’s amazed at how many great people he’s been associated with. Along with those already mentioned, he’s toured with singers Lizz Wright, Amy Helm, Roseanne Cash, and Amos Lee. He played in Joey Baron’s band in the early 2000s with fellow guitarist Steve Cardenas and Tony Scherr on bass. Levy makes frequent appearances at guitar camps around the country, especially on acoustic. He’s released five records on his own Lost Wax label, and for several years he was chair of guitar performance at the Los Angeles College of Music.
And what of the future?
“I’d like to put myself into different sorts of ensembles. On my vocal and instrumental records so far, I’ve mostly leaned on rhythm sections, almost always with a drummer, bass, and/or Hammond organ … sometimes another guitar,” he reflects. “I’m thinking that different types of instrumentation and orchestration could lead to something new. I’d love to make a solo guitar record, and then play some solo concerts. Just before the pandemic, that was my plan.
“Of course, that would’ve been the perfect time to record it. And I did, sort of. I didn’t make a solo album, but I recorded a number of etudes at home and released them on my Bandcamp page. As the lockdown rolled on, I got so hungry to play with other people that I abandoned the solo thing as soon as I could. Now that things are pretty much back to normal, I’d like to revisit the idea of a solo record and tour.
“In all of this, I think the ‘big idea’ is to see what I’m made of as an artist. I do have a style and a temperament. But I don’t want to just keep repeating myself, you know?”
YouTube It
Adam Levy exhibits his smooth, gently complementary style in a performance with Rich Hinman at Nelson’s Drum Shop in Nashville.
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Stompboxtober Day 29 is live! Enter today to win a pedal from StewMac—more chances to win tomorrow!
StewMac International House of Overdrive Pedal Kit, With Bare Enclosure
The IHOO is based on the Crowther Hot Cake, an overdrive that became available around 1976. It was one of the earliest hand-made boutique effects pedals available. The circuit was designed to be what is now referred to as a “transparent” overdrive. An effect that enhances the player's sound while keeping the original tone intact.
This circuit has undergone many changes since its inception, and we have further expanded on the design by returning to an earlier version most revered by players and removing the buffer, which resulted in a reworked circuit that is true bypass but still retains the charm of the design.
We also include the original LM741 IC chip found in the originals, as well as the TL071 that is found in later versions so you can experiment with which IC best suits your playing style.
PG contributor Tom Butwin details RAB Audio GSRS – a studio racking system purpose-built for guitarists looking to declutter, customize, and elevate their creative space. Whether you’re a pedal enthusiast or amp collector, RAB Audio has a solution for your recording setup.
RAB Audio ProRak SRS1 Guitar Studio Racking System
3 adj amp head decks, laminated plywood, Blk TrimHandcrafted in the USA, the JEL-50 features 50 watts of all-tube power, two channels, and a transparent effects loop. The JEL-212 Cab is loaded with Celestion Creamback speakers.
Jake E. Lee ranks high on the shortlist of influential gunslinger guitarists that emerged as the heroes of a new generation in the early ‘80s. Best known for the burning guitar work and innovative songwriting, Lee contributed to two of Ozzy Osbourne's most revered albums, 1983’s Bark at the Moon and 1986’s Ultimate Sin.
With Ozzy, his post-Ozzy band, Badlands and most recently, with his own group, Red Dragon Cartel, Lee’s playing embraced the athleticism of the ‘80s while remaining firmly rooted in the hard rock fundamentals of the ‘70s. Jake’s tonal choices provide the evolutionary glue between the sonics of those two great eras. Jake E Lee and Dave Friedman combined their legendary ears and talents to create the new Friedman JEL-50, a signature amplifier that offers Lee’s ultimate tones in a boutique hand-wired package.
In Lee’s own words, “this amp puts the two specific tones I use to create my sound in one head: The sweetness and warmth of a classic Plexi and the more aggressive slant of the master volume amps of the ‘80s -- all tweaked to my taste. Dave has an innate understanding of where I’m coming from as a player and we’re alike in the way we hear tones. Dave doesn’t hear things as a technician, he hears things like a musician, and that made him really easy to work with. I grew up in the ‘70s and those muscular, articulate rock tones were the tones I always sought, but I made a name for myself in the ‘80s when you needed a little more aggression and a little more scream. I’ve always tried to retain a little of that ‘70s heart and I still do, and that’s what this amp does -- though it’s got plenty more on tap if you need it!”
The JEL-50 was specifically designed to take pedals well especially boosts, ODs, phasers, flangers, tremolos, and wahs. The ultra-transparent buffered, series effects loop takes time-based effects pedals and rack units equally well. This is the exact same FX loop Friedman uses on all its amplifiers including the legendary BE-100. The head cabinet features beautiful red tolex, white piping and solid Baltic Birch construction.
SPECIFICATIONS
- 50-Watt all-tube head
- Two channels
- Handwired in the USA
- Custom USA made transformers
- 2 x EL34 power tubes
- 3 x 12AX7 preamp tubes
- JEL channel - Gain, Master, 3-way Bright switch
- JEL Channel Hi/Lo (Push pull gain switch)
- Plexi channel - Gain, Volume, 3 way Bright Switch
- EQ- Bass, Middle, Treble shared with Ch1 and CH2
- Ultra-transparent series effects loop
- Thump knob - ( Rear ) Varies lowered response of the amps power section
- Presence - ( Rear) Varies high end content of the amps power section
- Single button foot switch for channel selections
- 4, 8 and 16 ohm Impedance jacks
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Dimensions: 8.75″ (D) x 24″ (W) x 10″ (H)
- Weight: 33.5 lbs
2x12” Celestion Creamback Loaded Extension Cab
The Friedman JEL 2x12” is a rear ported closed-back extension cabinet which utilizes tongue and groove Baltic Birch construction to deliver the bass, mid response and great sound you would expect from a Friedman cab. The JEL 212 Cab features red tolex, white piping and black grille cloth, designed to cosmetically match the Friedman Signature Jake E Lee heads.
At the heart of the cab is a Celestion G12M-65 Creamback 16 Ohm speaker. The G12M Creamback is perhaps the definitive vintage Celestion ceramic magnet guitar speaker. Developed in the mid-sixties, it was quickly adopted by players like Hendrix, Beck and Page, who typified the louder and more aggressive blues-rock playing styles that came to characterize that era. The higher power handling G12M-65 Creamback used in the JEL 1x12 produces that familiar woody tone, making it ideally suited when both vintage and modern tones are desired. The increased power handling brings with-it low-end grunt complementing the warm and vocal mid-range, crunchy upper mids and sweet, refined highs.
As with all Friedman cabinets, oversized 12-gauge speaker wire is soldered between the speaker and terminal, assuring you capture every ounce of valuable tone. This compact monster not only excels in the studio, but the perfect compliment to your stage rig. The Friedman JEL-212 Cab is handcrafted with pride in the U.S.A. and designed to withstand the rigors of the road.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Hand crafted in USA
- Cosmetics to match the Jake E Lee Signature Heads
- 2 x Celestion G12M-65 12" Creamback Speakers
- Nominal impedance - 8 Ohms
- Closed back -rear ported cabinet design
- Limited lifetime warranty
- Dimensions: 12" (D) x 30" (W) x 20.75" (H)
- Weight: 58 lbs.
The Friedman JEL-50 Head carries a street price of $2999.99 and the JEL-212 Cabinet carries a street price of $999.99.
For more information, please visit friedmanamplification.com
Friedman Amplification - All new Jake E Lee 50-Watt Head featuring Jordan Ziff - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Friedman JEL-50 Jake E Lee Signature 50-watt Tube Head and 2x12" Cabinet
Jake E Lee 50W Tube Head 212 StkThe Boss GX-10 Multi-FX Processor offers 23 guitar amps, nine bass amps, and 170 effects for versatile sound creation.
Boss announces the GX-10, a powerful new amp and effects processor for guitar and bass. Equipped with the core sound engine and color touch display from the acclaimed GX-100 released in 2022, the GX-10 offers players the same inspiring experience in an even more portable footprint. Adding in multi-mode footswitches, an integrated expression pedal, and USB audio connectivity, the GX-10 seamlessly transitions from nightly stage performing to desktop recording, song creation, and daily practice sessions.
The GX-10 delivers a universe of ultra-responsive tones in a travel-ready size. There are 23 guitar amps and nine bass amps to choose from, including high-gain X-Ultra, X-Optima, and X-Titan types crafted with the latest BOSS modeling technologies. Players can color sounds with 170 different effects, including overdrives and distortions, mod effects, delays, and reverbs, plus dedicated bass effects and BOSS classics like Slow Gear, Octave, Slicer, and more.
The GX-10 enables fast sound creation with an inviting color touch display and four dynamic parameter knobs. Up to two amps and 15 effects are supported in each memory, and it’s easy to change effect order and create series or parallel routings by dragging blocks with a finger on the screen. Send/return jacks are available to integrate favorite pedals or an amp’s effects loop into the GX-10 signal flow.
The GX-10's clever control options provide versatile real-time sound adjustment possibilities while performing. Multiple control modes and user-assignable settings offer maximum flexibility with just three footswitches. By default, the expression pedal toggles between volume and wah and activates the tuner when the pedal is pulled back. But it can be customized to control nearly anything using the GX-10’s assign matrix.
Boss Tone Studio allows users to edit sounds and load their own speaker cab IRs from a Mac or Windows computer. The GX-10 also supports the optional Bluetooth® Audio MIDI Dual Adaptor, which unlocks on-the-gig wireless editing via the mobile version of the app.
Boss Tone Studio includes additional tools to organize GX-10 sounds for different gigs and playing situations. It also provides direct access to Boss Tone Exchange, an online platform for downloading professionally created sounds and sharing GX-10 Livesets with the global BOSS community. GX-100 Livesets are fully compatible with the GX-10 as well. In addition, there’s a built-in USB-C audio interface for capturing high-quality guitar tones in music production apps on computers and mobile devices.
The new Boss GX-10 Guitar Effects Processor will be available for purchase at authorized U.S. Boss retailers in October for $399.99.
For more information, please visit boss.info.