Lowdown Brass Band’s David Levine On Playing Brooklyn Bowl, The New Album “LowDown Breaks,” Alaska And Roy Ayers

An interesting mix of brass, hip-hop MCs and dynamic vocalists, The Lowdown Brass Band is never short on fun or energy. In its years together, the LDB had shared the stage with Lake Street Dive, Bonerama, G Love & Special Sauce and The Stooges Brass Band — beyond playing the occasional jazz festival — showing its versatility in-concert. On January 19th, the group will be releasing Lowdown Breaks. First single “Ghost Town” features Billa Camp & The Dread and shows the musicians riding the seas in a glorious way. Other guests on Breaks include Ang13, DJ ALO, and Fada Dougou.

On behalf of The Hype Magazine, I had the pleasure of doing Q&A with the Lowdown Brass Band’s baritone Sax player David Levine. Levine — along with drummers Mike August and John Barbush, trombonists Raphael Crawford, Andrew Zelm and Steve Duncan, trumpeters Sam Johnson and Shane Jonas, sousaphonist Lance Loiselle, and tenor saxophonist Chris Neal — will be playing at New York’s Brooklyn Bowl on December 28th. More on the horn-centric ensemble can be found online at www.lowdownbrassband.com.

The “Ghost Town” video looks like it was filmed in a variety of locales. Was that camera trickery? Or were you guys all over the place?

David Levine: No trickery, it’s the real deal! 95% of that footage was shot on tour in Alaska in July of this past year. Yes, Lowdown on a boat. We met some fishermen in a town called Cordova on Prince William Sound and they offered to take us out for a spin. I’m SO glad we decided to bring the horns that day. We had a perfect day with perfect conditions to film. We couldn’t pass it up!

Being a horn-centric band, how do your songs usually come together? I ask because I can’t imagine it’s easy to write using instruments that play only one note at a time.

David Levine: Some groups have a very collaborative writing process that takes place in the practice space with all members contributing their own parts. It can start with a riff or a drum beat, the bass jumps in, the guitar takes a solo, you write vocals, you have a song. With us, with so many moving parts, it’s just more efficient to have more-or-less complete compositions, fully arranged for the horns, brought in by the composers. The collaborative aspect of our sound is in the number of members that write for the band. We have at least five members of the band that compose regularly. Beyond that, it’s really no different than any other composer writing for an ensemble but instead of a guitar, we have three trombones.

Does someone in your band make charts or sheet music for songs? Is most of the song-learning done by ear?

David Levine: Most things are originally charted, but we try to get things “off book” — memorized —
immediately. Music stands on-stage just isn’t a good look. However, we do like to have things documented in case we need to bring in a sub here or there to cover a part for a tour. Being eight-plus members, we can run into scheduling issues from time to time. We have some tunes we do that are considered standard repertoire — some of the more traditional New Orleans 2nd Line rep — that aren’t charted out because you’re just supposed to know them.

A decade ago when people thought of bands with horns, they probably thought of ska or swing bands. Decades before that they probably associated horn-based bands with Chicago, Kool & The Gang and Earth, Wind & Fire. What was the first artist that really showed you that horns could mix with guitars?

David Levine: You can go all the way back to early jazz of the 30’s and 40’s to see the combination of guitar and horns starting to really gel; Charlie Christian with Benny Goodman, Freddy Green “chunking” chords along with the Count Basie Orchestra. Then go to rhythm and blues and Motown and you see a whole new use of the horn section; Junior Walker, JB’s, Stax. The late 60’s and 70’s just blew the roof off with the possibilities; Miles Davis, Brecker Brothers, Frank Zappa and Mothers Of Invention, Weather Report, Chase, Tower Of Power. It’s so hard for me to name a favorite or a “first” but I’ve always loved the way The Band mixes in horns. The arranging is so great. The Last Waltz is an amazing example.

Lowdown has collaborated with a lot of other artists. Is it challenging to collaborate with outside artists in knowing that you won’t be able to perform those songs live with those original artists?

David Levine: There’s are couple tunes out there that we can’t really do without our collaborators — like tunes from our most recent 45 “Lowdown Bounce” featuring NOLA bounce rappers Ricky B and Bigalow — but for the most part, we’ll still play ‘em. Roy Ayers’ “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” is one of those songs that we just love to play, although Mr. Ayers isn’t exactly on our full-time roster. (laughs) However, he is welcome at any and all Lowdown tour dates!

For someone who hasn’t seen your band live before and is thinking of coming to Brooklyn Bowl, what should be expected?

David Levine: Lots of energy, a horn-centric mash-up of street beat, hip-hop, dub, funk, jazz and soul. A freaky beat that you can get down to, karate kicks and — hopefully minimal — dad jokes.

Lowdown Breaks will be out on January 19th. Do you have a favorite song on the album?

David Levine: That really changes for me. There’s a lot of different material on this record. I think it started with “Cold Shoulder,” featuring Ang13 and Billa Camp, as my favorite. But it changed to “Don’t Wait! Right Now!” which is Chris Neal’s afro-beat protest song, featuring Fada Dougou. Now, I think it’s “The Climb” written by Shane Jonas. I mean, we’ve literally been working on this album for two years, so at this point, all my favorite songs need a little rest.

Long-term, what is the plan for Lowdown? Is it to be a “house band” like The Roots, Bonerama or Snarky Puppy? An improv-based band that can play live for hours?

David Levine: I really see us just trying to stay busy, keep writing, keep producing recordings and videos regularly, keep collaborating, getting on the road as much as we can and see what comes. We’re pretty versatile so I
could see us in a number of contexts. Late night TV would be a trip.

When not busy with the band, how do you like to spend your free time?

David Levine: I’ve been completely enamored with the sport of boxing, for some reason. When I’m not hustling work to feed my cat, I’ll do some training — road work, core conditioning, coordination drills. That seems to get my mind and body right for performing; like I said, expect karate kicks at the Brooklyn Bowl show. I also tried my hand at making
kombucha with varying success…a stranger drink I know not.

Do you have any side projects or music going on besides Lowdown?

David Levine: It’s pretty Lowdown-centric right now, given the timing of this latest record and our tour schedule. I’ve been messing around with some solo ambient/soundscape-type stuff, but right now, it’s really just a way to give my brain a little break.

Finally, David, any last words for the kids?

David Levine: Go outside and play!

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Tags: Alaska, Brooklyn Bowl, David Levine, Horns, LowDown Brass Band, Miles Davis, Roy Ayers, The Roots

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."