Our friend and colleague, the great Mark Levine, passed away on Thursday, January 27, 2022 at the age of 83. May he rest in Peace and may all the thousands of people whose lives have been uplifted by his music and his unparalleled books say a word of thanks to this Giant of Jazz as he enters the Big Band in the Sky. We'll miss him...
Please leave your condolences or reminiscences here. We'd love to hear from you all - Chuck Sher
36 comments:
Thank you for telling me, Chuck. My deepest condolences.
So sorry to hear this. I took a few courses at Berkeley Jazz Institute
with Mark. He was sweet and gruff. A great teacher. I will miss him.
Oh Lord. Thanks for letting us know Chuck. This one will take a minute to digest.
I am so very sorry to hear this. His book has helped many students and he will be remembered for years to come I'm sure.
I am very sorry to hear this news. Having had the pleasure to work on the graphic end of Mark’s books I had a chance to know Mark a bit and I especially appreciated Mark’s humor. My condolences to you, Norma.
Thank you Mark for the wonderful musical memories. You were, and will always be, an inspiration to so many of us.
Thank you Chuck for letting me know this, sad news about Mark Levine passing. I have high, all around respect for Mark: for his playing, teaching and as a person of integrity.
Heartbroken. Another giant has joined the ancestors.
💔
This is sad news for sure. Thank you for letting all of us know. Thanks to your publishing his legacy will live on infinitem. So many good memories.
I'm so terribly sorry to learn of Mark's passing.
I'm so terribly sorry to learn of Mark's passing. I loved his playing as well as him how he was as a Cat. There's no question, Mark will definitely be missed greatly! Please, forward my deepest condolences to his wife and family.
God Bless him and now, may he rest in peace.
So sorry and sad to hear this news. Thanks for letting us all know. Mark will definitely be remembered by many many people.
Whew - so sorry to hear this. A giant has indeed passed.
I’m so very sorry to hear this Chuck. My deepest condolences to all of his friends and loved ones.
I’m so sorry to hear this sad news! Mark was definitely one of a kind, and I’ll miss him and his music. My deepest condolences, Norma.
Take care,
Dan
Thanks for letting us know. So Sorry to hear. He was one of the greats; the end of an era.
Very sorry to hear of his passing Chuck. I cherish fond memories of the time I spent with him, while living in Brussels and London, organizing master classes for him to share his knowledge with the next generation. I remember him as an inspiring teacher. May he rest in Peace.
I’m very sorry to hear of Mark’s passing. Sending love and sincere condolences to Norma. Mark’s wonderful recordings and books will be appreciated far into the future!
Hey Chuck, Thanks for letting me know. Mark will be missed. I had many enjoyable times playing and hangin' with him over the years.
Mark's departure leaves a huge hole in the bay area music community, as well as the larger music community. He was a giant and I'm still loving, and learning from, his music.
I am so sorry to hear that Mark has left us. What a wonderful legacy he created, which we'll always have, and which will continue to inspire, illuminate, and enlighten all who love this beautiful music. I, for one. will spend the rest of my days trying to master so many of the concepts, ideas, and musical truths that he introduced me to. My condolences to you, Norma, and to all whose lives Mark touched.
So sorry to hear that sad news. Mark was so talented and made such a lasting contribution to jazz education and all the musical communities he was part of. Sending heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. We will all miss him.
So shocked and sorry to know about this. Deepest condolences to his family. His legacy will last for decades to come as one of the great jazz musicians and educators. With his text books published here in Chinese version, all jazz musicians here in China thank him for his great contribution.
This is heartbreaking news. Mark was so very sweet to me, especially when we finally got to play together, I was in awe just listening to him next to me. There were so many lessons I received from him directly and indirectly: his recordings, his books and just speaking with him. It's so great and important that you were able to document his teachings through the publishing of his works.
My profound condolences to Norma, the rest of his family and to you all.
What a shocking news , such a great musician who enlightened so many people who wish to take the never ending road to knowledge , his books and piano playing will forever remain at the top of his art .
Thank you dear Chuck. I know that you and Mark were very close, and I send love and wish you comfort always.
Our condolences...Thank goodness Mark lived and did all he did. I not only learned so much about playing music from his books and performances, but his reality based book writing style served as a inspiration for my own.
So sorry to hear about Mark’s passing. What a muso and his teaching from his book is priceless. Rest in peace amigo and blessings.
Very sorry to hear about Mark’s passing. I didn’t know him that well, but he wrote a nice blurb for my Serious Jazz Book II: “A unique approach to creating unity out of the proverbial melody/harmony duality. Original and provocative.”
A year or 2 later I got an email from him, kind of apologizing that he had written that blurb without actually looking at the book! He said something like “Sorry, I didn’t really realize what your book was all about… it’s actually pretty good!”
Such a great loss for family, friends and the music community at large. We cut our teeth in Boston together in the late 50’s and were schoolmates at Berklee. Many classic hangs. I admired his playing and he was never hesitant to share. He was a master at latin comping. He was always willing to share his knowledge. He wrote out a selection of his comps for me and still have that on file somewhere. Never was able to get them together.
There’s an African saying that a person doesn’t pass until that last person who knew him/her passes. His Jazz Piano book will stand the test of time. He has achieved immortality!
Sad sad news...Thanks Chuck for letting us know. When I took a summer 6 week course at Berklee in the early/mid 60's Mark was 'on the scene' as a 'Pro' already, and was someone we all looked up to and his books are always sitting on my piano for reference to this day..I learned so much from them, and always enjoyed playing (along) with him on the Jamey recordings ...he will be deeply missed, and I'm so grateful for Mark and all the knowledge he imparted...
This is truly sad news. I hadn’t spoken to Mark for quite some time, but the last time we spoke he was not feeling great. I’d also heard he’d been struggling the last little while.
Mark played most of my SF gigs back in the days of Pearl’s, when I was just getting my feet on the ground after coming back from Europe. Whenever I could get them, I’d have Mark, John Wiitala and Danny Spencer. Beautiful, swinging rhythm section. One of my favorite memories is asking Mark to play some up front of a ballad. He played this perfect 8 bar intro, and I was loving it so much I motioned for him to keep going. I wanted to hear more. He said, out loud, but not loudly, “No.”
To this day I don’t know if he meant, “That’s enough.” "Don’t push me around” “Why, that was already perfect?” or something else, but the simple clarity of that ’no’ was a lesson unto itself.
What a great cat and beautiful player.
I loved him before I knew The Jazz Piano Book existed, and even more after it changed my life for the better….
What a terrible loss for his family and for the music and music education community. My condolences.
Rest in peace dear Mark, we will miss you.
Damn. Extremely sorry Chuck
And I had JUST finished his Jazz Theory book and wanted to give him a thank-you hug.
Maybe in heaven, later.
Thanks for letting all of us know about Mark. He had such a positive effect on so many of us, musically and socially. He was the heart and soul of my Salsa Caliente band. I loved him as we all did.
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