Samba De Beach - Allegra Levy by Braithwaite & Katz

Samba de Beach is the first track from jazz vocalist Allegra Levy’s album Lose My Number: Levy Sings McNeil, available August 15 via SteepleChase.

Levy’s collaboration for her mentorwith acclaimed jazz trumpeter John McNeil. Levy has penned words for nine of his previously published compositions which had no lyrics until now. With the exception of McNeil on three tracks, the album features an all-woman band: Carmen Staaf on piano, Carmen Rothwell on bass, and Colleen Clark on drums.

Levy’s collaboration with Levy has penned words for nine of acclaimed jazz trumpeter John McNeil’s previously published compositions which previously had no lyrics. With the exception of McNeil on three tracks, the album features an all-woman band: Carmen Staaf on piano, Carmen Rothwell on bass, and Colleen Clark on drums.

“I’ve always wanted to do this project,” says Levy, a rising singer-songwriter based in New York. McNeil is not only a longtime friend and mentor, but produced her first two albums – Lonely City, hailed by The New York Times as “fresh,” “exotic,” and “far beyond the ordinary,” and Cities Between Us, which prompted JazzTimes to pronounce Levy “a double-barreled talent” and “unquestionably one to watch.”

McNeil himself is someone who has been watched and widely listened to since he first hit the New York jazz scene in the mid-70s, playing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Horace Silver Quintet, and Gerry Mulligan, as well as leading bands of his own. As one of the world’s most original and creative jazz artists, he has also written a lifetime’s worth of music. But he was open to having a new take on some of those songs.

“Allegra Levy’s lyrics have a somewhat cynical, noir-ish take on the world – right up my alley,” says McNeil. “Collaborating with her was an absolute joy.”
That feeling was mutual. “John is my most important collaborator,” Levy says. “He’s always been in my corner, and always been such an empathetic and important person in my life. I always felt that his melodies were really memorable, and that they told these stories.” She wanted to help give those stories new meaning. “Lyrics only add to the experience by letting people find their own stories in the music,” she says.