NYC based “People’s musician” Adam Levy (Tracy Chapman, Norah Jones) makes a rare midwest appearance promoting his new album “Spry” and collaborating with JT Bates (Bonny Light Horsemen, Alpha Consumer) & Chris Bates (Joyann Parker, Atlantis Quartet)

The trio will play three shows in and around the region. 

Thursday, February 1st – Carleton College Kracum Concert Hall 

320 3rd St E, Northfield, MN 55057

5 pm clinic / 8 pm concert: FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Friday, February 2nd – MetroNOME Brewing 385 Broadway Street St. Paul, MN

7:30 pm concert in Fingal’s Cave. TICKETS

Saturday, February 3rd – Big River Theatre 121 S. Main Street, Alma, WI

7:30 pm concert: TICKETS

Adam Levy: Spry – LISTEN HERE

In the Spring of 2022, guitarist Adam Levy set out to write and record the “jazz album of his dreams”. He wanted it to feature a fresh batch of original tunes, and he’d need to marshal a rhythm section that could swing, simmer, and shade.

His first call was to double-bassist Larry Grenadier, best known for his tenure in Brad Mehldau’s mercurial trio. Next, Levy reached out to drummer Joey Baron. (Levy was a member of Baron’s late-’90s quartet Killer Joey.) Before signing on to this project, Baron nudged Levy: “There’s going to be some blues, right? I always love the way you play the blues!” Levy assured Baron, and began writing the music that would fill up this album — now dubbed Spry.

With the smoldering melancholy of “Mitchum” and “And They All Sang”, Levy brought enough blues to satisfy Baron — though that’s not the only mood here. “Vermouth” is bright and bracing; “King Pleasure” slowly swaggers; “Second Best” could be the soundtrack for a modern-day film noir.

If there’s an intimacy to the sound of Spry, that’s because every note was recorded with the band set up in one room — with minimal isolation, and no headphones used.

Levy says that Spry fulfilled his original impulse, and then some. “This album really is a dream come true for me. I wrote my way into some new spheres. Larry and Joey followed me at every turn — and sometimes led the way.”

It is fully in this Spry spirit that Adam will collaborate with the intuitively versatile rhythm tandem of Chris and JT Bates for three regional shows at the beginning of February. JT and Adam met in 2018 at a one off gig in Minneapolis and have been looking for a way to collaborate again since that meeting. 

JT Bates and Chris Bates have been making music together almost their whole lives. Two brothers growing up in a creatively rich environment, JT and Chris have developed a musical relationship that encompasses the entire spectrum of modern music. Their recorded history includes original jazz from Motion Poets, Zacc Harris Group, Michael Rossetto, and Chris’ original group Red 5; singer/ songwriter collaborations with Mark Joseph and Pushing Chain; and countless live collaborations with genre blending artists like Dosh, Todd Clouser, Tony Hymas, and David Huckfelt. Their recent collaboration with another guitarist (and good friend of Adam Levy), pedal steel phenom Rich Hinman, was a live highlight from 2023. The bass and drum relationship is the key ingredient to so much music and the Bates Brothers biology, sense of space, and understanding of each other provides an ease and comfort for everyone who engages with their musical relationship. 

We sincerely hope you will come and hear this new collaboration in one of these three rarified shows with Adam Levy, Chris Bates and JT Bates.