A compelling and distinctive live solo recording from cellist Daniel Levin at Firehouse 12 in 2015, using extended bowing, percussive techniques, and resonant microtonal detail to explore the cello's outer limits, presented in Smeraldina-Rima's distinctive packaging with a handmade screen-printed fold-out poster and heavy-duty printed sleeve.
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Daniel Levin-cello
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Label: Smeraldina-Rima
Catalog ID: Smeraldina-Rima 32
Squidco Product Code: 36818
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: Belgium
Packaging: DVD long sleeve with a handmade, screenprinted fold-out poster on heavy stock with art by Lizzy Pauwels, and a screenprinted heavy-duty plastic outer sleeve.
Recorded at Firehouse 12, in New haven, Connecticut, on August 15th and 16th, 2015, by Greg DiCrosta.
Recorded live on August 15-16, 2015 at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, CT, this solo set by Daniel Levin presents the cello in full flight — stripped of accompaniment, unbound by conventional structure, and projected into the acoustic space of the venue with clarity and immediacy. The album is presented in an unusual package: a DVD long-sleeve format with a handmade screen-printed fold-out poster (art by Lizzy Pauwels) printed on heavy stock, all wrapped in a screen-printed heavy-duty plastic outer sleeve. The physical aesthetic complements the music: a bold tactile statement matching the sonic boldness within.
Levin's approach here emphasises exploration of the instrument's full potential: bowing across the body of the cello, percussive tapping and scraping, long sustained tones stretched into micro-tonal space, pitch inflections, rich overtones, and sudden dynamic shifts — moments of hush as potent as moments of intensity. The live environment allows him to cast resonances into the room, to let small impulses develop into spacious sonic gestures, to reveal the instrument's interior as much as its exterior.
For the listener, the experience is immersive: one is drawn into Levin's solitary journey, witnessing in real time how he negotiates form via immediacy, how he invests silence with meaning, and how he shapes emerging sound into coherent narrative without pre-composed material. The packaging reinforces this: handmade, screen-printed, tactile — an artefact that invites contemplation and aligns with the music's individual, handcrafted character. This release stands as a statement of Levin's commitment to improvisation as composition in the moment, and to the cello as a site of discovery rather than only tradition.
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Daniel Levin "Daniel Levin is "one of the outstanding cellists working in the vanguard arena" (All About Jazz), "ridiculously fluent, virtually overflowing with ideas" (New York City Jazz Record) and "very much the man to watch." (Penguin Guide to Jazz). No matter what setting he plays in, cellist Daniel Levin occupies a musical space bordered by many kinds of music, but fully defined by none of them. "Demonstrating an impressive breadth of texture and contrast, the cellist Daniel Levin comes well prepared for a career in jazz's contemporary avant-garde." (Nate Chinen, The New York Times). Elements of European classical music, American jazz, microtonal and new music, and European free improvisation all figure prominently in his unique sound. As critic John Sharpe observes in The New York City Jazz Record, "he invokes all manner of musics with prodigious skill: jazz, classical, improv, noise, vocal chorus. His technique is unquestioned and he revels in the physicality of the instrument. Those with an adventurous streak or interest in the outer reaches of the cello universe will find much to savor." Born in Burlington, Vermont, he began playing the cello at the age of six. In 2001, he graduated with a degree in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music, and arrived on New York City jazz scene shortly therafter. Since then, Daniel has developed his own unique voice as a cellist, improviser, and composer. Ed Hazell noted upon release of Levin's first record as a leader, "Cellist Daniel Levin is a major new voice on his instrument and in improvised music." He has performed and/or recorded with Billy Bang, Borah Bergman, Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Gerald Cleaver, Andrew Cyrille, Mark Dresser, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Tony Malaby, Mat Maneri, Joe Morris, William Parker, Ivo Perelman, Warren Smith, Ken Vandermark, and many others. Daniel is the recipient of a 2010 Jerome Foundation award." ^ Hide Bio for Daniel Levin
11/19/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Assemblage 04:57
2. Generator 05:12
3. Baksy-buku 08:54
4. The Dragon 11:01
5. Symbiotic 04:18
6. Mountain of Butterflies 05:47
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Stringed Instruments
Solo Artist Recordings
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