DownBeat January-December 2009 [antikvár]

By Frank Alkyer SMILE Appreciation for a Pit-Buil Publicist Pelcr I-cvinson would have loved this: an ailicic on Page 8. Ihe editorial page. But somehow. I can hear him saying. "Next time. Mr. Alkyer, what can we do about the covcr?" You .see, Levinson was a publicist. He spent his life calling on newspaper and magazine editors, television producers and radio DJs. He promoted some of the greatest musicians who ever lived—like Frank Sinatra, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, the Modem Jazz Quartet and Dr. Billy Taylor—and more than a few who never quite made it. Still, he gave them all a push. That alone marks an impressive career in my book. But saying Levinson was a publicist is like saying Count Basie—one of Levinson's clients—was a piano player. Levinson was the dean, the godfather, the mack daddy of jazz publicists. Unfortunately, I have to talk about Levinson in the past tense. He died Oct. 21, 2008, due to head injuries that resulted from a fall in his Malibu, Calif, home. He was 74. For almost two years Levinson suffered from ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. The disease eventually took his speech, but not his will, or ability, to work. He learned to use a computer into which he would type his thoughts and it would speak for him. The disease probably had as much to do with the fall as anything else. His mind was still sharp. Unfortunately, his body failed him. On the day he fell, according to his longtime assistant, Petra Schwarzwald, Levinson was working on a publicity plan for Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. That was Levinson. He had no plans to retire. When he found a client he thought had real talent, like Goodwin, he'd champion their cause with vigor and intensity. In the la.st decade, he didn't take on as many clients. Instead, he wrote biographies, championing his musical heroes. He wrote four—all well-researched and great reads— about Harry James, Nelson Riddle, Tommy Dorsey and Fred Astaire. But Levinson was best-known as a stylish, smart, old-school, pit-bull publicist. He began his career working for Columbia Records in the 1950s. He branched out into television and film publicity, but music, especially jazz, was his first love. His agency, Peter Levinson Communications, was one of the first independent publicity firms that catered lo the music industry. It serves as a model for scores of similar agencies that exist today. In hindsight, Levinson created a whole school of publicity, and his disciples are among the best-known publicity pros and talent representatives working in jazz—Don Lucoff, Arnold J. Smith, Michael Bloom and a host of others. Unless you're a jazz insider, you won't know these names, but you'd know their clients. That's the life of a publicist. They aim to make their clients stars and make their star clients legends. Levinson did this as well as anyone in the business, and he taught a host of others his methods. "Peter was the Art Blakey of jazz publicists," said Lucoff. whose DL Media works with a wide variety of top jazz artists and record companies like Blue Note. "He gave so many of us a shot. He let us develop our chops and let us go on to become our own 'band leaders.'" Michael Bloom, a West Coast publicist who represents a number of jazz artists and labels, worked for Levinson for only six months before talking his way into a gig at Gramavision. but it wa.s time well spent. 'i immediately stiirted working with Chuck Mangione. Rosemary Clooney. the MJQ. et al." Bloom said. "Peter taught me to know all tliere is to know about that which you publicize, always follow up to make sure that the writer received the package, and always wear a tie. "He was llie last of the old-school publicists, at least for jazz, and there won't be anyone like him again."