| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| annapolisguitar |
Posted - 09/25/2005 : 4:45:25 PM
Hey all,
I just finished my first solo acoustic disc, Touch The Spirit.
It has a dedication to Tim inside. I was fortunate to take several lessons with him and jam with him at many sessions at the old student lounge at University of Virginia, Pav XI, pre-DMB. Some temporary clips are up at http://www.myspace.com/roblevitjazz -- Homecoming and Touch The Spirit are the clips. Tim continues to be a creative and spiritual inspiration! www.roblevit.com |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 07/25/2006 : 12:37:47 PM
Another Review of "Touch The Spirit"
JazzTimes Magazine
Acoustic Axis from the July/August 2006 issue
ROB LEVIT
Touch the Spirit (Symbol System)
In the notes for his fine album Touch the Spirit, guitarist Rob Levit credits a list of primary influences on his music, citing Tim Reynolds (guitarist with Dave Matthews as well as a unique solo artist and gifted player), Keith Jarrett and John McLaughlin (especially his classic early acoustic album My Goal’s Beyond) and Pat Metheny. Those artistic touchstones in mind, listening to Levit’s album has a kind of larger continuity, stretching beyond the typical range of the acoustic guitar scene.
Over the course of 24 varied but somehow unified tracks, Levit shows the impressive scope of his musical voice, without merely trying to impress. The short, introspective piece “Radiance” is dedicated to Jarrett—whose delicate and experimental album Spirits is one of Levit’s favorites—but we also sense an inspirational link to My Goal’s Beyond in its searching chord progression and distilled emotional air. Elsewhere on the album’s eclectic landscape, he manages some virtuosic tap-and-hammer-on percussive work, spins out spidery electric solos and experiments with loopy layering and meditative pieces reminiscent of Steve Tibbetts. But enough of the comparison and influence game: What impresses most is the sense of a gifted musician at one with his instrument and speaking in multiple dialects.
-Josef Woodard
http://www.jazztimes.com/reviews/cd_reviews/detail.cfm?article_id=17163§ion=Acoustic%20Axis&issue=200608 |
| PJK |
Posted - 06/20/2006 : 3:09:19 PM
Very cool indeed. I listened to a bunch of the selections. Really liked Drum Wisdom, but then I am into percussion. The title track, Touch the Spirit, definitely touched my spirit, but there were a few notes in the transition in Sunken Cathedral that made me go "ouch."
Definitely a CD I would like to buy. Waiting to see what my summer job will be before I do any more CD purchases, but its definitely going on my "I'd like to buy this" list!
Thanks Rob and Fluffy for sharing! |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 06/20/2006 : 12:44:50 PM
For those who still aren't convinced by my glowing recommendation alone, there are 30 second sound clips of each song on Rob's website. Please check them out, and I am sure you will be convinced. Once again, I really like "Thru the Gap" and "Drum Wisdom". ENJOY!! |
| KevinLesko |
Posted - 06/20/2006 : 02:31:55 AM
Sounds awesome, I'm going to check it out. |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 06/16/2006 : 7:22:35 PM
Man, I just got this CD and you guys need to check it out if you haven't. Matt Winn, you really need to check out track 11(Thru the Gap), I think you would really dig this CD, especially this track, really reminds me of some of your stuff. Did I mention it has 24 tracks, alot of music for a little price. I really like the track called Drum Wisdom. SWEET!!!
The dedication to TR is as follows:
"As a student at the University of VA, I was fortunate enough to study and jam with Tim, one of the finest acoustic and electric players of our time, well before his days with Dave Matthews. He was and continues to be a musical and spiritual inspiration."
TR is in some weighty company as well, he is listed first in the dedications but there are also dedications to John McLaughlin, Keith Jarrett, and Pat Metheny. Not bad company I would say. |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 06/05/2006 : 6:18:10 PM
For those who don't know, Rob was former student of TR's and here is a link to one of his first posts on the message board where he talks about being a student of TR's:
http://www.timreynolds.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5704
His most recent album, that Rob dedicates to TR, is #11 nationally on New Age charts (not a really a "new age" CD, just not easily classifiable). http://www.newagereporter.com/charts/top100.asp
Touch the Spirit
Rob Levit | Symbol System Records
By Budd Kopman
Rob Levit is an amazing guitar player and a deep, feeling musician. Uncertain Path (Symbol System, 2004) revealed his electric side alongside a band, and now Touch the Spirit explores his solo relationship with the acoustic guitar, both steel and nylon, with a bit of electric thrown in. Levit is also a bit of a Renaissance man—he painted the album art. Openly indebted to such guitarists as Tim Reynolds, John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny, he also specifically mentions Keith Jarrett (and his 1986 ECM album Spirits) as inspiration.
The 24 cuts naturally are on the short side, meant to explore Levit's extremely prodigious guitar technique, rather than make any extended musical statements or even follow a suite of movements. This is not to say that technique dominates musical content, although it is very easy to be overwhelmed by it. Rather, the many individual pieces are tied together by Levit's emotional communication and his extremely eclectic musical tastes. By the end of the record, you may realize that you are in the presence of a very giving person who just happens to be able to play the hell out of the guitar in many different styles.
Most of the tracks are truly solo, but a few are overdubbed with a second guitar voice and sometimes percussion or voice. The many different sounds of the title cut make it feel overtly spiritual, from the opening meditation bell to the low, Tibetan-sounding single-note chant with overtones. Against these spiritual world-sounds, Levit plays lines on the steel-string guitar that sometimes sound Eastern, thus setting up the rest of the record.
”Radiance,” a pretty musical vignette dedicated to Keith Jarrett, has two intertwining fingerpicked guitars. “Disjunction Blues” explores the blues and extends it with blazing picking and finger styles, while “Naked Blues” brought me back to Steve Stills' ”Black Queen” at times, also showing that Levit can sing the lines he plays.
The longest track, “The Borderland”—which contains many different layered sounds, including deep distortion and high harmonics, behind drums and percussion—is a true musical journey. Levit plays the main Eastern-sounding line on an electric guitar with overdrive and effects. The overall feeling is a combination of the hypnotic and the ecstatic.
Levit seems to be bursting with the need to touch the listener with his music. He has many things to say and a nearly unlimited technique with which to say them. But there is never a moment on Touch the Spirit when empty string-shredding takes precedence.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=21927 |
| annapolisguitar |
Posted - 09/26/2005 : 07:51:02 AM
Thanks! Enjoy :)
ROB |
| Batstone |
Posted - 09/25/2005 : 8:57:10 PM
hey, im listenign ot a song called Singularity... amazing, good work man.. its goin on my mp3 player for sure |
|
|
