Jason Levis has been playing drums since 1995. As a composer, arranger and bandleader, he works with a full roster of bands packed with Bay Area improvisational talent, including the angular chamber jazz ensemble Heftpistole; the texturally-driven new music group the Walnut Chamber Ensemble; the nine piece instrumental reggae band Joseph's Bones; and the original jazz groups Blowout and Married Couple.
In addition to his many projects as bandleader, Jason also performs with Bay Area singer/songwriter Sean Hayes, the klezmer group the Maccabeats (sometimes known as the Yiddiots), Bill Noertker's Moxie, sixties pop star Donovan, the Larks and the quartet Four Flea Circus.
Levis has studied composition with pianist/composer Art Lande, improviser/composers Henry Threadgill and Myra Melford, and contemporary music composers Cindy Cox, Edwin Dugger and Jorge Liderman. He earned a BA in music from Naropa University, Boulder, CO where he wrote his thesis on the connection between improvisation and meditation and held the high honor of speaking on behalf of his graduating class of 1999 at graduation. He is currently a PhD student in composition at the University of California, Berkeley.
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