Career
Levine left the Manhattan School of Music after one year to pursue a career as a horn player and arranger. He very quickly developed his skills as an in-demand arranger on many high-profile pop and R&B recordings. This experience led Levine into forming a production company with Hugh Masekela. They began producing records that were a hybrid of South African township grooves crossed with rhythm and blues and jazz.
They soon left New York and moved to Los Angeles to form Chisa Records, an independent label which received immediate acceptance among the recording community. Levine produced Masekela's ”Grazing in the Grass,” which became a #1 pop single, quickly selling over two million copies.
While in California, Levine met members of The Jazz Crusaders, a group who had already built a small, but loyal, following. Levine signed them to Chisa Records with the idea of combining the funk of their native Texas alongside the jazz for which they were known. This was the beginning of a style that would become known as jazz-funk and, later, “Rare Groove.” Levine produced over a dozen albums with The Crusaders, many of which were certified gold and considered classics.
In 1974, Levine came up with the idea of putting together a music festival Zaire 74 in Kinshasa set around The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match - the Ali/Foreman fight in Zaire. He produced the festival, which brought together the greats of soul music alongside Africa's greatest artists. The entire event was filmed and eventually released in 1996 as the award-winning documentary When We Were Kings .
He returned to recording, producing Minnie Riperton’s third album, Adventures in Paradise. This album is believed by many to be a template for the neo-soul movement, and has influenced artists such as D’Angelo and Jill Scott, as well as many others. This led to a very productive period in which he produced albums by Van Morrison, Motown legend Lamont Dozier’s Peddlin’ Music on the Side, which featured the classic “Goin’ Back to My Roots,” and the début album of Randy Crawford.
From here he developed a close relationship with Phil Walden and Capricorn Records, producing a series of gold albums with southern rock artists The Marshall Tucker Band, as well as The Allman Bros. Band side project Sea Level and Dixie Dregs.
He then produced the first of six albums with blues legend B.B. King. Midnight Believer was an instant hit, putting B.B. back on the charts with a gold album after a long absence. This was quickly followed by B.B.’s Grammy winning There Must Be a Better World Somewhere.
In 1982 Levine produced “Up Where We Belong” with Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. Used as the end title song to the film An Officer and a Gentleman , “Up Where We Belong” became a #1 pop hit, Grammy winner and Academy Award winner. He then produced Sly and the Family Stone’s début album for Warner Bros. Records.
Next came Womack & Womack’s debut Love Wars. In England it quickly became a critic’s darling and a #1 album. Due to the overwhelming success of this album, Levine found himself being courted by many English A&R men, eager for him to work with their artists. He moved to London and began working with a wide range of acts from the techno dance group Blancmange to the cult band Killing Joke.
Levine was invited by an A&R man to see a new band from Manchester named Simply Red play their first gig in London. He describes the moment: “The lead singer was magical but the music sounded like a retro American soul revue. I wasn’t interested in this kind of sound. I met with Mick Hucknall and told him that we needed to come up with something fresh, not just revisit the past.”
The result was Simply Red’s début album Picture Book, which instantly became a huge hit in both England and America. Propelled by the international #1 single, “Holding Back the Years,” it quickly sold over seven million copies worldwide. Levine produced Curiosity Killed the Cat’s Keep Your Distance in a similar “soul” style. It contained two top ten singles and became a #1 album in England and Europe. He followed this with Boy George’s first solo album, Sold, containing the reggae influenced #1 hit single “Everything I Own.”
Next came Simply Red’s A New Flame, which included the international #1 version of “If You Don’t Know Me By Now.” A New Flame sold over eight million copies, but the best was yet to come. In 1991 he produced Simply Red’s Stars, which became one of the largest selling albums in British history, and was the highest selling album in Britain for two consecutive years. Stars contained four UK hit singles, sold 3.5 million copies in the UK and over eleven million copies worldwide. He also produced the Everyday People 1990 album You Wash... I'll Dry .
Next he produced three new songs for Lionel Richie’s greatest hits album Back to Front. He then produced Dr. John’s Grammy award winning album Goin’ Back to New Orleans, as well as albums for Huey Lewis and The News, Oleta Adams and Ireland's Hot House Flowers. He returned to England to produce Simply Red's next album, Life, which included the group's only UK #1 single, “Fairground.”
After this album, Levine decided to take a break from the studio to concentrate on composing and playing the saxophone. “I was burnt out,” he says, “I needed to refuel.” He emerged re-energized in 2002, producing a reunion album with his old friends The Crusaders. This was followed by another reunion, this time with Simply Red. Levine produced their hit version of “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” as well as their single "Sunrise," putting them back on the charts. Next came David Sanborn’s first new album in many years, Time Again, which stayed as the #1 jazz album for many months.
In the summer of 2003 Levine was asked to work with a young British jazz artist by the name of Jamie Cullum. Levine produced Jamie’s debut album Twenty Something, which became a massive crossover hit, selling 1.3 million copies in England and over 2.5 million copies worldwide.
Levine followed this by producing the Dr. John’s N’Awlinz: Dis, Dat or D’udda, which featured a who’s who of New Orleans’ greatest musicians alongside guests such as B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples and Randy Newman. He returned to England to produce Jamie Cullum's second album Catching Tales, which has established Jamie as an international star.
Levine has most recently produced Aaron Neville’s début for Sony-BMG. The Soul Classics is a collection of some of the most memorable and loved R&B songs of all time. Levine called upon many old friends, including Joe Sample, David Sanborn and Ray Parker Jr. to accompany Aaron in a style suited to his distinctive, interpretive powers.
As far as Levine is concerned, that is the function of a producer. “To me,” he says, “It’s about framing the artist properly. I guess it goes back to my early days as an arranger. It didn’t matter how brilliant the arrangements were if you didn’t make the singer sound their best. That was the only reason they hired you again!”
Hugh Ramapolo Masekela was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for writing well-known anti-apartheid songs such as "Soweto Blues" and "Bring Him Back Home". He also had a number-one US pop hit in 1968 with his version of "Grazing in the Grass".
Jamie Cullum is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine studio albums, three compilation albums, one live album and twenty-four singles. Since April 2010, he has presented a weekly Tuesday evening jazz show on BBC Radio 2.
Robert Dwayne Womack was an American singer, musician and songwriter. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career spanned more than 60 years and multiple styles, including R&B, jazz, soul, rock and roll, doo-wop, and gospel.
David William Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school.
Roger Troutman, also known as Roger, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and the founder of the band Zapp who helped spearhead the funk movement and influenced West Coast hip hop due to the scene's heavy sampling of his music.
The Crusaders were an American jazz group that was successful from the 1960s to the 1990s. The group was known as the Jazz Crusaders from their formation in 1960 until shortening their name in 1971. The Crusaders were comfortable playing a wide assortment of genres, from straight ahead jazz, to urban R&B, to R&B-based jazz, to even blues. The band reached a commercial apex in 1979 with their hit single "Street Life", featuring lead vocals by Randy Crawford, and their accompanying album of the same name.
Oleta Angela Adams is an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. She found limited success during the early 1980s, before gaining fame via her contributions to Tears for Fears's international chart-topping album The Seeds of Love (1989). Her albums Circle of One (1991) and Evolution (1993) were top 10 hits in the UK; the former yielded a Grammy-nominated cover of Brenda Russell's "Get Here", which was a top 5 hit in both the UK and the US. Adams has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, as well as two Soul Train Music Awards.
Leon Ware was an American songwriter, producer, composer, and singer. Besides a solo career as a performer, Ware was best known for producing hits for other artists including Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Maxwell, Minnie Riperton and Marvin Gaye, co-producing the latter's album, I Want You.
Tommy LiPuma was an American music producer. He received 33 Grammy nominations, five Grammy wins, and his productions sold over 75 million albums. LiPuma worked with many musicians, including Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, George Benson, Phil Upchurch, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Gábor Szabó, Claudine Longet, Dave Mason, the Yellowjackets, the Sandpipers, Michael Franks, Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Ben Sidran, The Crusaders, Joe Sample, Randy Crawford and Dr. John. In 2020, his biography, The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma, written by Ben Sidran, was published by Nardis books
Ronald Wayne Laws is an American jazz, jazz fusion and smooth jazz saxophonist, and singer. He is the younger brother of jazz flutist Hubert Laws, jazz vocalist Eloise Laws and the older brother of Debra Laws.
Twentysomething is the third studio album by English singer Jamie Cullum. It was released on 20 October 2003 in Europe, and in May 2004 in the United States. The album has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide, and achieved eleven platinum, eleven gold and two silver certifications. It is the fastest-selling jazz album in chart history and its sales led to Cullum ending 2003 as the UK's highest-selling jazz artist in history.
"You Are Everything" is a soul song written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed and originally recorded by the Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics.
Wilton Lewis Felder was an American saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of the Jazz Crusaders, later known as The Crusaders. Felder played bass on the Jackson 5's hits "I Want You Back" and "ABC" and on Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On".
Womack & Womack was the singing and songwriting partnership of married American musicians Linda Womack and Cecil Womack. The duo were successful as songwriters for other artists, and had several international hits as a singing duo in the 1980s and 1990s. Later recordings with other members of their family were credited to The House of Zekkariyas.
Zaire 74 was a three-day live music festival that took place on 22 to 24 September 1974 at the Stade du 20 Mai in Kinshasa, Zaire. The concert, conceived by South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela and record producer Stewart Levine, was meant to be a major promotional event for the heavyweight boxing championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, known as The Rumble in the Jungle. When an injury forced Foreman to postpone the fight by six weeks, the festival's intended audience of international tourists was all but eliminated and Levine had to decide whether or not to cancel the event. The decision was made to move forward, and 80,000 people attended.
Arthur Adams is an American blues guitarist from Medon, Tennessee. Inspired by B.B. King and other 1950s artists, he played gospel music before attending college. He moved to Los Angeles, and during the 1960s and 1970s he released solo albums and worked as a session musician. In 1985 he was tapped to tour on bass guitar with Nina Simone, and he staged a comeback in the 1990s when he released Back on Track, and became a respected Chicago blues player and bandleader in B.B. King's clubs.
The Love Supreme Jazz Festival is a three-day greenfield music festival held annually on the first weekend of July in Glynde Place in the South Downs of East Sussex.
"Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, from his 1972 album One Man Dog. The song has been included on three of Taylor's greatest-hits collection albums: Greatest Hits (1976), Classic Songs (1987) and The Best of James Taylor (2003). Taylor re-recorded the song for the 2001 Michael Brecker album Nearness of You: The Ballad Book; this rendition won Taylor the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2002.
The Emancipation of Hugh Masekela is the fifth studio album by South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela. It was recorded in Los Angeles and released in 1966 via Chisa Records label. On this album he performs mostly his own songs. Tracks "Child of the Earth", "Felicidade", and "Ha Lese Le Di Khanna" were later included in his 2004 album Still Grazing.
The Chisa Years: 1965–1975 is a compilation album by South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela. The album consists of 14 rare or forgotten tracks recorded by Stewart Levine and Hugh Masekela from 1965 to 1975 when they ran their own Chisa Records label.
