Tony Levin

Famed for his work with Peter Gabriel and King Crimson, bass virtuoso Tony Levin was born in Boston on June 6, 1946. At age ten, he began studying upright bass, also playing tuba in his high-school marching band and even forming his own barbershop quartet; as a member of a local youth orchestra, Levin additionally performed at the White House for President John F. Kennedy. After attending the Eastman School of Music, he appeared with the Rochester Philharmonic, but over time turned away from classical music to play rock and jazz, relocating to New York City in 1970 to join Aha!, ex-Mothers of Invention keyboardist Don Preston's band.
A busy session career followed, with fluid, expressive work on classic LPs, including Lou Reed's Berlin, Kate & Anna McGarrigle's self-titled debut, and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years. After collaborating with Peter Gabriel on his eponymous 1977 debut, Levin joined the ex-Genesis frontman's touring unit, during which time he honed his skills on the Chapman Stick, a unique 10-stringed instrument in which the strings are not plucked but tapped, a process allowing the individual to play notes with both hands and create complete multi-part arrangements.
In 1978, Levin settled in Woodstock, NY, serving in the short-lived L'Image; a year later, he played on Robert Fripp's solo effort Exposure, soon thereafter agreeing to join the guitarist in new a incarnation of his groundbreaking progressive unit King Crimson, and remaining a member of the group for over two decades. (His tour experiences subsequently yielded a 1984 book of photographs, Road Photos.) While working on Gabriel's 1986 smash So, Levin developed Funk Fingers, essentially chopped-off drumsticks designed to hammer on the bass strings; he later sold Funk Fingers through his own Papa Bear Records label as well. Sessions with everyone from Robbie Robertson (his 1987 self-titled solo debut) to Laurie Anderson (1989's Strange Angels) to Yes (1991's Union) followed, and in 1996, Levin finally made his solo debut with World Diary. From the Caves of the Iron Mountain, recorded with bamboo flute master Steve Gorn and drummer Jerry Marotta, appeared a year later and in 1998, he formed Bruford Levin Upper Extremities (B.L.U.E.) with longtime King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford, guitarist David Torn, and trumpeter Chris Botti.
Waters of Eden, Levin's Narada label debut, followed in the spring of 2000. Pieces of the Sun was released in 2001 (an expanded edition came out a year later on Pony Canyon), with many of the same tracks also included on his 2002 record, Double Espresso. Prime Cuts, a compilation of his work on sessions led by other artists on the Magna Carta label during the '90s, was issued in 2005. A bona fide new solo effort, Resonator, followed the next year, for the first time featuring Levin as a singer/songwriter as well as a bassist.

Source: All Music.com.

Aka Moon "Invisible sun" (2000)

Aka Moon

The unique place Aka Moon occupies in todays music scène is down to the fact that they, independent of any particular trends, combine art with inspired musical craftsmanship. This allows the musical personalities of saxophonist and composer Fabrizio Cassol, electric bassist Michel Hatzigeorgiou and drummer Stéphane Galland to explore all kinds of musical traditions and merge them into their own musical universe.

Since their first encounter with the Aka Pygmées in 1992, Aka Moon’s focus has shifted towards various different African, Indian, Maghrebian, Cuban, Arab, Afro-Amercican and European traditions. Aka Moon juggles with polyrhythms and polyphonies like mad DJ’s. They slide from one phrase into another, opening up new harmonic and rhythmic paths. As a trio or in larger formations they cross over in a kaleidoscopic and elusive way creating a whirlwind of unclassifiable, transcending and cosmic music. Aka Moon’s virtuoso way to approach musical styles have inspired great choreographers who have invited Aka Moon to create and perfom their music within their productions.

The journeys of Aka Moon have been registered in more than 15 CD’s and therefore these mark always a touchstone in their musical evolution.
Aka Moon - as a trio or in other constellations - has played all over the world in over then 30 different countries an at festivals as North Sea Jazz, Montréal Jazz festival, Vancouver Jazz festival, New York Jazz festival, Jazz Middelheim, Gaume Jazz, Moers Jazz, Jazz à la Vilette, Dublin Jazz, London Jazz, Cluzone Jazz, Porto Jazz, Dimajazz, Carthage Jazz, etc.

They have worked together with the most virtuoso musicians, groups and other artists of this era all over the world amongst who: Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Doudou N'diaye Rose, Marc Ducret, Benoit Delbecq, David Gilmore, Joe Lovano, Robin Eubanks, Magic Malik, Philippe Catherine, Mark Turner, David Linx, Fabian Fiorini, Toots Thielemans, Baba Sissoko...

Source: Aka Moon.com.