Tony Levin is the World's Greatest Bassist
Published on 11 July 2024
He’s one of the greatest practitioners of bass guitar the world has ever seen.
He has a long history with Peter Gabriel and King Crimson, but his 50+ year career has seen him work with John Lennon, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, Tom Waits, Stevie Nicks and Paul Simon, amongst his hundreds of session credits.
He is one of the foremost players of the Chapman stick, and he is also a pretty excellent photographer.
He’s Tony Levin, of course, and I was really excited to talk to him! We’d actually interacted previously when King Crimson were conquering the world five or so years back, but that previous interview (which you can read right here in my Tony Levin Interview) was via email, which is fine but not as gratifying or enjoyable as a proper chin wag! There’s no back-and-forth, and no ability to ask particular details about what a person says, so being able to properly converse on Zoom was a really exciting proposition. Thanks to Ernie Ball Music Man for that! Tony has been a dedicated StingRay player since the 70s, and is one of their most visible users: after all, if somebody with his ability and experience repeats chooses them, they’re obviously outstanding instruments.
(Photo: Tony Levin)
It was about more than Music Man for me, though. They were the reason for us to connect, but this man’s life as a musician has been prodigious, to say the least! For me, Tony represents an amazing blend of adventurous spirit (funk fingers, people!) and supportive team player: an experienced session ace who knows how to play for the song, but is also able and willing to create game-changing new techniques and places for the bass to go.
I needed to know more and found Tony to be a very friendly and willing conversational partner. Given how notable his work has been, he’s a wonderfully humble and down-to-earth man, with an easy-going and relaxed manner. I was also desperate to hear more about BEAT, the new supergroup formed with himself, Adrian Belew, Steve Vai and Danny Carey to play the influential ‘Discipline-era’ King Crimson music. The timing was good, because Tony had a little bit of time off between projects, and also wanted to chat about his upcoming solo album, so there was plenty of ground for us to cover!
This was just one of those lovely conversations that happen once in a while, and I’m very happy to share it with you below.
