Sean Levitt grew up in 1960s New York City in a rarefied musical environment. His mother was the singer Stella Levitt; his step-father, Al Levitt, was drummer for some of the biggest names in East-coast bop and West-coast cool-school jazz. Their Harlem apartment was a place to hang out, score, play and rehearse for many of the finest jazz musicians of the period.
Sean was hugely talented but a little-known guitarist, spending most of his career, from the early 1970s until his death in 2002, in Spain, coinciding with the beginnings of jazz appreciation and teaching there. This book contains biography, researched with members of his family and musicians who played with him, and transcriptions in standard notation and guitar tablature of five of his compositions and two pieces by other composers. A learning point from each is analysed and discussed.
Transcriptions:
Taller Blues
Jordi's Jump
November Song
Blues at Yesterdays
Mr Henderson
Four on Six, Wes Montgomery
Beatrice, Sam Rivers
150 A4 pages