Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Double bassist John Levy was born April 11, 1912 in New Orleans but was raised in Chicago, Illinois. In 1944 he left Chicago for the bright lights of New York and played bass with Ben Webster, Erroll Garner, Milt Jackson and Billie Holiday. In ’49 he became the original bassist for the George Shearing Quintet and took on the responsibility as his road manager.
1951 saw him turning to business and opening John Levy Enterprises, Inc. becoming the first black personal manager in pop and jazz. By the sixties his roster was boasting clients including Nancy Wilson, Cannonball Adderley, George Shearing, Joe Williams, Shirley Horn and Ramsey Lewis.
In 1997, John Levy was inducted into the International Jazz Hall Of Fame and in 2006 was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. Bassist and personal manager John Levy passed away on January 20, 2012 at age 99 in Altadena, California.
