L to R: Ira Gitler, unidentified, Red Rodney, Robert Levin, Ira Sullivan.
From a Red Rodney recording session for the Signal label at Rudy Van Gelder’s Hackensack, NJ studio. The photo is by Don Schlitten.
Called by Nat Hentoff “a writer from whom I always learn something,” Robert Levin is a jazz critic whose work focuses on free jazz. Writing since the 1950s, he has contributed to Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, All About Jazz and Downbeat. He’s the coauthor of two books on free jazz and has penned more than 100 liner notes for major labels like Blue Note. They include albums by John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. His criticism and memoirs reflect long-standing, first-hand engagement with the musicians and movement he documents.
Levin is also a writer of short fiction and general commentary, with multiple published collections. See the About and Front pages.