Insight+ Solid Ground [2LPs on 1CD]

Editor's info:

2 LPs on 1 CD !
ON CD FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER !!
The complete original albums Insight
and Solid Ground by the Rod Levitt
orchestra featuring celebrated Swedish
trumpeter Rolf Ericson.
These were the second and third LPs
respectively, out of only four albums
Levitt would make under his own name
during his entire career.
Both albums appear on CD here for
the first time ever.
Includes 16-page booklet

Rodney Charles Levitt (better known as Rod Levitt) was an American
trombonist, composer and arranger. He was one among many
underrated and forgotten jazz musicians who briefly entered the
spotlight only to return to obscurity soon after. Levitt was born in
Portland, Oregon, on September 16, 1929 (he died in his sleep on
the night of May 8, 2007) and studied composition at the University
of Washington, where he received his B.A. in 1951. He was in the
orchestra at Radio City Music Hall from 1957 to 1963, and played
with Dizzy Gillespie (from 1956 to 1957 -with whom he made his
first recordings), Ernie Wilkins (1957), Kai Winding (1958), and Sy
Oliver (1959-60). He also worked with Gil Evans in 1959 when his
orchestra accompanied Miles Davis. He played with Gerry Mulligan
and Mundell Lowe in 1960, with Quincy Jones in 1961, and with
Oliver Nelson in 1962. His career reached its zenith during the
period from 1963 to 1966, when he fronted his own octet (titled
"Rod Levitt and his Orchestra") and recorded five albums under
his own name. He continued to work with this group into the 1970s.
During the decade he also played with Chuck Israels. Later in his
career he worked with Cedar Walton and Blue Mitchell, and wrote
music for commercials with a company he ran from 1966 to 1989.
The two albums compiled on this release appear on CD here for
the first time ever. They are his second and third LPs, coming after
The Dynamic Sound Patterns of the Rod Levitt Orchestra (recorded
in July 1963). The best-known figure of the Levitt octet heard on
this CD is that of Swedish trumpeter Rolf Ericson (1922-1997).