Elliott Levin

If descriptive blurbs are to be trusted, the prudent response to Elliott Levin’s arrival is to seek immediate cover. Failing that, scaling the nearest tree offers a fallback, echoing the counsel given hikers facing an oncoming “ferocious...frenzied...bearlike” presence. The ursine parallel stems solely from the Philadelphia performer’s stature and physique, whereas the remaining terms attempt to capture the intense activity of free-jazz horn players. Levin contributes extensively to that activity on tenor saxophone and flute. He also maintains a vigorous parallel vocation as a published poet and routinely merges the two sensibilities onstage, pleasing an expanding audience for live poetry while exasperating those hipsters who regard jazz poetry as a form of torment surpassing even cold showers. Listeners who likewise experience free jazz as ordeal are advised to revert to the original counsel, for Levin’s sets contain no dilution, no softening aimed at novices, the faint-hearted, or the simply timid. Nor does he approach performance as an element of career planning; his sole apparent strategy is to play continuously. In addition to professional engagements with numerous ensembles and periodic cross-country travels, he participates in spontaneous sessions. Any account of the Philadelphia jazz milieu inevitably notes that “And Elliott Levin has been known to sit in, buggin' out with his sax and flute...” One local drummer characterized him as “the guy that calls you at two in the morning, wanting you to haul your drums over to some jam session.”

Although raised in Philadelphia, Levin pursued studies in music and creative writing at the University of Oregon. He received private instruction from Michael Guera, a onetime saxophonist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and conducted additional work with pianist Cecil Taylor, appearing in several of Taylor’s ensembles. Claire Polin served as his principal flute teacher. Among his decade-long credits is a tenure as saxophonist with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes within the Sound of Philadelphia organization, alongside work with Odean Pope’s Saxophone Choir, Tyrone Hill, Don Preston, Scram!, New Ghost, Atzilut (Fourth World), Talking Free Bebop, and multiple projects involving bassist Jamaladeen Tacuma. His Taylor associations encompassed the groups Phthongas and Unit Core Ensemble, documented on the FMP release Live in Berlin. On the poetry circuit he has shared stages with Miguel Algarin, Gloria Tropp, Mbali Umoja, Marty Watt, and Frank Messina. Several volumes of his poetry have appeared in print, with individual pieces published in L.A. Weekly, Blue Beat Jacket, The Painted Word, Po' Fly, Vital Pulse, and Poets and Prophets. In 1999 he performed at multiple European jazz festivals. Recognition has come from New American Radio in New York, the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, and the California Endowment for the Humanities.