Al Levitt

Levitt was born in New York City to Ben Levitt (1908-1941) and Florence Cohen Levitt (1912-1950). Early in life he showed an interest in music. In the early 1940s he went to an inter-racial summer camp, Camp Wo-Ch-Ca, where he met Mike Stoller. They became close friends and both became interested in boogie-woogie and jazz. In 1947 when they were 14 years old they visited a social club at in Harlem. For the next two years they spent weekend evenings listening to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Oscar Pettiford, and Erroll Garner. In 1949 Mike Stoller moved to Los Angeles. Levitt went on to be a jazz drummer. Stoller met another young man in Los Angeles and they wrote songs together. They were known as Leiber & Stoller.

Levitt studied with Lennie Tristano for many years, along with Lee Konitz. Levitt also studied occasionally with Max Roach. Levitt studied piano with Moses Chusids in high school. He studied under Lennie Tristano along with Lee Konitz and studied drums under Irv Kluger in 1949-50. In the early 70s he picked up studies again with Max Roach.

After moving to the Canary Islands, Spain, in 1973 with Stella, his common law wife, and her five children, Levitt played with Canadian bass player Lloyd Thompson, Dutch pianist Nico Bunink, and American trumpeter Don Jeter. Moving then to Madrid, Levitt played with Spanish pianist Pedro Itturalde.

Moving to France in 1975, Levitt again met and played with friends from the U.S. In Paris he founded a band with Alain Jean Marie. His group consisted of Stella on vocals, Sean on guitar, Alain Jean Marie on piano and Gus Nemeth on bass. He played with Paul Bley, Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Jimmy Raney, Dexter Gordon, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, J. J. Johnson, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Jimmy Gourley, Peter Ind, Martial Solal, René Urtreger, Pierre Michelot, Michel Petrucciani, Clark Terry, Dorothy Donegan, Guy Lafitte and Barney Wilen.

• Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford, 1999, p. 411.