Rodney Charles Levitt (September 16, 1929 in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

– May 8, 2007 in Wardsboro, Vermont) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

trombonist, composer, and bandleader. Levitt studied composition at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

, where he took his BA in 1951. He was in the orchestra at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for th ...

from 1957 to 1963, and played with Dizzy Gillespie (1956–57),

Ernie Wilkins Ernest Brooks Wilkins Jr. (July 20, 1922 – June 5, 1999) was an American jazz saxophonist, conductor and arranger who spent several years with Count Basie. He also wrote for Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Dizzy Gillespie. He was musical dire ...

(1957), Kai Winding (1958), and

Sy Oliver Melvin James "Sy" Oliver (December 17, 1910 – May 28, 1988) was an American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader. Life Sy Oliver was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. His mother was a piano teacher, and his ...

(1959-60), and also worked with

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans ( né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role ...

in 1959 when his orchestra accompanied

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. In 1960, he played with

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and

Mundell Lowe James Mundell Lowe (April 21, 1922 – December 2, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist who worked often in radio, television, and film, and as a session musician. He produced film and TV scores in the 1970s, such as the ''Billy Jack'' soundtrac ...

, with

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

in 1961, and with

Oliver Nelson Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signifi ...

in 1962. He recorded four albums as a leader of an octet in 1963-6,6 and continued to work with this combination into the 1970s, when he also played with bassist

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. Later in his career he worked with

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and

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, and wrote music for

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with a company he ran from 1966-1989. In the late 1970s he taught at Fairleigh Dickinson,

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of N ...

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, and

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. He died of Alzheimer's in Wardsboro, aged 77.

Discography

As leader

*'' The Dynamic Sound Patterns'' - Riverside RLP 471 (1963) *''Insight'' - RCA Victor LPM 3372 (1964) *''Solid Ground'' - RCA Victor LPM 3448 (1965) *''42nd Street'' - RCA Victor LPM 3615 (1966)

As sideman

With Dizzy Gillespie *'' World Statesman'' (Norgran, 1956) *'' Dizzy in Greece'' (Verve, 1957) *'' Birks' Works'' (Verve, 1957) With

*'' Themes from Mr. Lucky, the Untouchables and Other TV Action Jazz'' (RCA Camden, 1960) With

*'' Beyond Mobius'' (RCA, 1976) - arranger and conductor With Kai Winding *'' Dance to the City Beat'' (Columbia, 1959)

Footnotes

References

*"Rod Levitt", '' Grove Jazz'' online. {{DEFAULTSORT:Levitt, Rod 1929 births 2007 deaths American jazz trombonists Male trombonists Musicians from Oregon Riverside Records artists 20th-century American musicians 20th-century trombonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians