String Juggler: Adam Levy and His Many Musical Hats, Part 2 of 2

Levy on the making of the jazz album of his dreams and the tools of his trade, plus a transcription of the studio recording of his new composition “Your Name Here”

Photo by Erika Kapin

In the previous post, I talked to Adam Levy about how he evolved from a jazz guitarist and supporting player to a rootsy and soulful singer-songwriter. Our conversation continues below, with Levy talking about the making of his latest album, Spry, a jazz trio with ten original compositions; his trusty Gibson ES-335s and Collings dreadnought; why he rarely ventures past the 12th fret, even on electric guitar; and more.

In a recent crowdfunding campaign, you described an album you hoped to record as the “jazz album of your dreams.” What was it like to make Spry, and did you realize your vision?

One thing is that I hadn’t made a trio record with double bass—I’d made a couple of organ trio records and a quartet record—and something about the trio format felt like a brave thing for a guitar player to do. Part of what made it a dream record was just the challenge of pushing myself to do it. I was obviously inspired by Julian Lage; Arclight is incredible. And Bill Frisell has made some great trio records amongst his many ensembles, as had Jim Hall.

And then I wanted to write music that would make the most of that format. I started writing and then I had to think about who I wanted to make the record with, and Larry Grenadier quickly came to mind. He is a singularly fantastic musician whom I played with a little bit many years ago, in between the Tracy and Norah gigs. I worked with Larry’s wife, Rebecca Martin, who’s a great singer-songwriter and had a band called Once Blue that people might know. So I had only played with Larry in that context, but I always had looked at him as one of the greatest bass players of his generation.

For a drummer, I thought of some living legends like Al Foster, as well as some younger up-and-comers. But I eventually settled on Joey Baron, because I felt like that would be a beautiful trio. The way that Larry plays is very active and it’s also super up the middle. I don’t mean to say quotidian, but he just always knows where it’s at, even when he’s playing syncopated; he really defines the center of the beat. Joey can also do that, but he can also play in a way that’s much more orchestral, and kind of sly and playful, at times.

Adam Levy in the recording studio with drummer Joey Baron and bassist Larry Grenadier. Photo by Erika Kapin

I thought that would be a neat environment for me to explore. I wanted to push myself to play with people that I think of as the greatest rhythm section that I could imagine for myself and just reach for it. But it took money to do it, because I wanted to pay those guys appropriately. I had to fly Joey over; he lives in Europe. And I wanted to do it as live, not to tape—or, rather, Pro Tools or whatever—as possible. That’s what happened, and it was a dream for me. There were songs that we did in one or two takes and I would say, “Oh, let’s do it again. And Larry or Joey would say, “Okay, but why—do you want to do something differently or did something not work?” And it was really just that I wanted to do it again because it felt so good. But that’s not how you make records [laughs]. Once you have it, you’ve got to keep moving. But it was just so beautiful. We set up very close together and recorded without headphones and played very quietly.

Joey was just endlessly creative, and Larry was also, even when playing in a very foundational way. And I just felt so free. I played in a way on that record that I don’t think I’ve ever played on any other records, either mine or others’, just because I felt so free in in that room with those guys.

Sounds like a dream come true indeed.

It really was.