Tony Levin's 70th Birthday Bash

Tony Levin is one of the great jazz drummers of our time. Starting his career nearly half a century ago, when he came to prominence as the resident drummer at Ronnie Scott's, and from 1965 with Tubby Hayes, Levin has encompassed the whole range of British jazz, from trad with Humphrey Lyttelton to jazz-rock with Ian Carr's Nucleus and free jazz with Keith Tippett, as well as becoming the drummer of choice for John Taylor, Gordon Beck and the European Jazz Ensemble. Two contrasting sides of Levin are represented tonight: in the first half he plays in a trio with the Berlin-based Japanese pianist Aki Takasi and bassist John Edwards, and in the second with the marvellous free-jazz supergroup Mujician, with Keith Tippett on piano, Paul Dunmall on saxophones and Paul Rogers on bass.

'The Mujician quartet's interaction is nothing short of preternatural.' BBC / 'Mujician [is] unique, producing beautiful, harrowing, humorous but always provocative music that shows these master improvisers to also be formidably dynamic listeners.' Dusted Magazine

Takase / Edwards / Levin: 'This trio easily straddles the territory between jazz and free improvisation ... the [intricate] music dynamic and free-flowing.' All About Jazz