Pete Levin – organ
Mike DeMicco – guitar
Jeff Siegel – drums
In a diverse music career spanning several decades, keyboardist/arranger Pete Levin has performed and recorded with hundreds of Jazz and Pop artists – including Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Miles Davis, David Sanborn, Lenny White, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Robbie Robertson and John Scofield – receiving critical accolades for his work during a 15 year association with the legendary Gil Evans, and his 8 year stint with jazz icon Jimmy Giuffre.
Since the 70s, Pete has been part of New York’s jazz, pop, and electronic music scene. In 1974 he got a call to play French horn with legendary jazz arranger Gil Evans, and Gil made him a regular. As an experiment, Pete brought a Moog synthesizer to an Evans gig. Gil loved it and Pete’s role was permanently changed, beginning the transformation of the band into the electronic/acoustic hybrid sound that won 2 Grammy awards. Among the first to explore synthesizers during the 70s, Pete became a sought-after sideman for studio and live gigs. As an arranger and musician he worked on dozens of film scores, hundreds of jazz and pop records, and countless TV and radio commercials. Over the years, interspersed with Gil Evans, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox and Jimmy Giuffre tours, Pete has done arranging and electronic music for feature films including MISSING IN ACTION, THE COLOR OF MONEY and STAR TREK. He composed the orchestral score for the independent film ZELIMO, composed an original music score for a stage production of THE DYBBUK, did the official band/chorus arrangement of the U.S. Infantry song and composed the anthem for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit, performing it in the U.N. General Assembly. But his favorite collaboration was “THE CLAMS” with his brother, bassist Tony Levin and drummer Steve Gadd, a Spike Jones tribute band that produced the top-40 hit single “CLOSE TO YOU” that’s now a cult classic.
Between 1964 and 2017, Pete has recorded and/or performed live with artists and ensembles including …
Michael Allman, Aztec Two Step, Joe Beck, Jeff Berlin, Marc Black, Terrance Blanchard, Carla Bley, Blood Sweat & Tears, Broadside Brass Bed Band, Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Hiram Bullock, Butterfield Blues Band, Donald Byrd, Don Byron, Jay Chattaway, Tommy Chong, The Clams, John Clark, Jimmy Cobb, Judy Collins, Commander Cody, Gene Cornish, Albert Cummings, David Darling, Kal David, Bettye Davis, Miles Davis, Robbie Dupree, Don Elliott, Gil Evans, Fania All-Stars, Rachelle Farelle, Bryan Ferry, Letizia Gambi, Jimmy Giuffre, Leila Gobi, Government Mule, Gregory Hines, Freddie Hubbard, Kathy Ingraham, Howard Johnson, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Band, Mamadou Kelly, Annie Lennox, Tony Levin, Levin Brothers, Rod MacDonald, Al MacDowell, Mike Mainieri, Melissa Manchester, Chuck Mangione, Liza Minnelli, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Ola Onabule, Rob Paparozzi, Jaco Pastorius, Simon Phillips, Lorenza Ponce, Genya Ravan, Nicki Richards, Robbie Robertson, Teri Roiger, Ali Ryerson, David Sanborn, John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Lew Soloff, Vaneese Thomas, John Tropea, Joe Lynn Turner, Michal Urbaniak, Jimmy Vivino, Joe Louis Walker, Jim Weider, Peter Welker, Lenny White & Vanessa Williams.
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Mike DeMicco’s expansive embrace of music has led him to work with prominent artists in many genres. He’s toured the world extensively since 1980, performing and recording with a diverse cross-section of jazz, blues and popular artists, including Dave Brubeck, The Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Jack DeJohnette, Nick Brignola, Warren Bernhardt, Lee Shaw, Rory Block, James & Livingston Taylor, Professor “Louie” and The Crowmatix, and many others. Mike’s selected performance highlights include appearances on PBS and NPR; at the major European and North American jazz festivals; and at prestigious clubs and venues such as The Kennedy Center, Ronnie Scott’s, LA’s Jazz Bakery, The Blue Note, Birdland, The Five Spot, The Bottom Line, Wolf Trap, Great American Music Hall, and BB King’s.
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JEFF “SIEGE” SIEGEL
Drummer/Composer Jeff “Siege” Siegel is a veteran of the New York Jazz scene and has worked with a virtual “who’s who” of artists. A member of the Sir Roland Hanna Trio from 1994-’99, Siegel’s diverse career has also led him to perform and/or record with legends such as Ron Carter, Kenny Burrell, Jack DeJohnette, Benny Golson, Sheila Jordan, Helen Merrill, Mose Allison, John Medeski, Arthur Rhames, Dave Douglas, Stefon Harris, Pat Metheny, Kurt Elling, Ravi Coltrane, Ryan Kisor, Lee Shaw, Levin Brothers, John Medeski, Dena DeRose, Lee Shaw and many others. He has worked in the avant garde world as well with Wadada Leo Smith, Baikida Carroll. He’s performed over 30 European tours including four as leader of the Jeff “Siege” Siegel Quartet and several others as co-leader. The Jeff “Siege” Siegel Sextet performed a 3 week tour of Africa in the summer of 2019. Other recent tours include The Levin Brothers Japan, Mexico, Canada and the US west coast and Midwest as well as South & Central America. His 2017 CD release “King of Xhosa” features South African trumpeter Feya Faku and is on the ARC label. His most recent release with his quartet is the 2018 release on ARC entitled “London Live” and “When You Were There” (2019) with Hetko, Syracuse & Siegel.
Siegel teaches Jazz drumming and jazz ensembles at The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music, SUNY New Paltz as well as at Western Connecticut State University. He’s performed clinics throughout Europe, United States, China, South America and South Africa.
