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QUESTION METHOD: ADAM LEVY
Adam
Levy is — well, you know.
1. Which was the first record you bought
with your own money?
That’s tough to say. When I got my first job
as a young teenager — a paper route
— I went sort of record crazy. I was an avid
read reader of Guitar Player magazine, and was learning
about many of the great players. I remember buying
Joe Pass’ Virtuoso, the Dixie Dregs’ Freefall,
Dave Edmunds’ Repeat When Necessary,
and George Benson’s Cookbook all around
the same time. I bought a couple of Chuck Berry singles
as well.
2.
Which was the last record you bought with your
own money?
Does iTunes count? If so, then it would be Homesongs by
Adem. The last actual CD I bought was Richard Thompson’s Rumor
and Sigh.
3.
What was the first solo you learned from a record
— and can you still play it?
George Harrsion’s solo on the Beatles’
“Let It Be” or maybe Jimmy McCulloch’s
solo on “Junior’s Farm” by Wings.
I think I can still play the “Let It Be”
solo.
4.
Which recording of your own (or as a sideman) are
you most proud of, and why?
With My Guitar and You,
which I made with my grandfather George
Wyle, who was a pianist. I’m proud
of this one for a few different reasons.
First, simply that I got to make a record
with my grandfather, who was my musical
hero and my teacher. Also, there wasn’t
a lot of improvisation — he and
I both wrote arrangements, and we stuck
to the page most of the time. The guitar
usually carried the song’s melody,
or some variation on it. I had to make
melodies really sing on the guitar, just
by way of touch and dynamics. I gave
a lot of thought to my tone, and was
very conscious of when and how I used
vibrato. It takes a lot of thought to
play so simply and straightforward. I’d
be proud of my work on With My Guitar
even if it weren’t a record I made
with my grandfather.
5.
What's the difference between playing live and
playing in a studio?
Playing live, I rarely get too precious about the notes
I play. It’s more about the overall vibe than
about nailing everything with mechanical perfection.
Also, on stage you have an opportunity to entertain
people, or cast a spell, to do something beyond merely
playing notes. In the studio, you’re mostly dealing
with just the notes — though you still need to
work some magic with them.
6.
What's the difference between a good gig and a
bad gig?
A good gig is when you connect with the audience and
with your fellow band-mates. On top of that, if you
can get a good tone and can feel that you’re
able to express yourself on the instrument, that’s
a very good gig. Bad gigs? Pretty much the opposite
of everything I just said. Besides real troubles
— bad music, bad vibes, equipment failure, and
so on —I have many so many “gigs gone wrong” stories
I could tell. Fires, clowns, trains, lost car keys,
and so on. In hindsight, though, even the worst gigs
can look pretty good. A friend of mine was riding in
the van with Marc Cohn recently when Marc got shot
on the way home from a gig. That’s a whole other
level of badness.
7.
What's the difference between a good guitar and
a bad guitar?
Any guitar can be a good guitar, if all the parts are
working and the intonation is passably accurate. More
and more, I’m drawn to guitars that have strong
personalities. Bland is bad.
8.
You play electric and acoustic. Do you approach
the two differently?
I use a lot of bends, vibrato, neck vibrato, and other “touch
effects” on the electric, which I hardly use
at all on the acoustic. I approach the acoustic more
like a piano, I guess. That’s the biggest difference,
for me.
9.
Do you sound more like yourself on acoustic or
electric?
Electric, for sure, because of all the touch stuff
I just described. I sound the most like me with a Gibson
ES-335 my hands, plugged into a mid-1960s Fender Princeton
Reverb. That’s because that’s the first
rig I ever had —
I had a 335 and a Princeton when I was 13. It just
feels like home.
10.
Do you sound like yourself on other people's guitars?
For better or worse, yes.
11.
Which living artist (music, or other arts) would
you like to collaborate with?
In music, I’d love to work with Tom Waits. He’s
such an incredible songwriter. Some of this songs are
simple and pretty, some are real ugly, some are bizarre — and
all are infused with wry humor and unforgettable imagery.
12.
What dead artist (music, or other arts) would you
like to have collaborated with?
Silent-film stars Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd.
13.
What's your latest project about?
Oh, there are so many. Most recently I’ve been
writing songs with words, and performing as often as
possible — wherever there’s a microphone
and a crowd of 2 or more. Also, I have a solo-guitar
concert coming up in November, where I’m gonna
play music by guys named Bill — Bill Evans, Bill
Frisell, Bill Strayhorn. Sorry, no Billy Idol or Billy
Laswell. Big Bill Broonzy? Maybe.
Web
site: http://www.adamlevy.com/
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