Students and legacy

Hank arrived at Towson in 1968 to a ten- or eleven-piece stage band. He left a program that had recorded more than a dozen LPs, won at Notre Dame in 1970, and sent alumni into the Army’s Jazz Ambassadors and onto professional bandstands. A few of the people who came through it:

Some of Hank’s students

• Bill Warfield

  Studied with Hank from 1970 to 1974. He wrote Hank’s obituary for the Jazz Education Journal (January 2002).

  Source: Jazz Education Journal

• Greg Reese

  A 1978 Towson State graduate. As a master sergeant in the Army’s Jazz Ambassadors, he interviewed Hank at home on February 20, 1997, and produced The Legacy of Hank Levy.

  Sources: Baltimore Sun, Apr. 2001; Army Field Band booklet

• David Aldridge

  Attended Towson from 1977 to 1979 and played in Hank’s big bands. He wrote the memoir “Hank Levy – Odd Meters, Erasers and a Time Revolution leader” (2012).

  Sources: David Aldridge; Ken Orton post

• Drew Gress

  Bassist, class of ’81. He played in the 1979 Towson ensemble and returned for Towson’s 2017 tribute to Hank.

  Sources: Baltimore Sun, Apr. 2017; Towson 1979 LP (SterArt)

• Ellery Eskelin

  Saxophonist. He played in the 1979 Towson ensemble.

  Source: Towson 1979 LP (SterArt)

• Russell Scarborough

  My Towson classmate. He is working with Ellis scholar Nick DiScala on The Don Ellis Critical Editions.

  Source: DonEllisMusic.com resources

• Sean Fenlon

  That’s me. I studied composition with Hank at Towson State from 1987 to 1989, as one of his last composition students, and dedicated my 2002 dissertation on Don Ellis to him.

  Source: Fenlon dissertation

The bands that keep playing him

• The Hank Levy Legacy Band, formed in 1992 (Wikipedia). Its recordings include Hank At Home (2000) and An “Odd-Time” Was Had By All (2004). Roster and news.
• The Towson University Jazz Ensemble. Its all-Levy CD With the Old Man in Mind came out in April 2001 (Baltimore Sun).
• The U.S. Army Field Band Jazz Ambassadors, whose relationship with Hank dates to the 1970s, when they were the Studio Band (Army Field Band booklet).
• College and community big bands around the world. The full playlist includes bands from Florida State, Central Washington and beyond.

“Mr. Levy, we do not want to be known as a ‘jazz college.’” “Sir, you are too late.”Hank’s exchange with the music department chairman, as told in the Army Field Band booklet (1997)