As an accomplished sideman, Adam Levy is famous for supplying charismatic guitar sounds for Nora Jones and Tracy Chapman. On his latest solo album, Spry, Levy positions his trusty 335 at the forefront, creating evocative jazz-based rainy-day tunes filled with melancholy and depth. Spry is saturated with atmosphere and artistic refinement. He recently told VG all about it.
How did you begin writing for a jazz trio?
I was writing a lot of solo guitar things and little etudes for myself, trying to get my solo-guitar thing together. But, two years into the lockdown, all I wanted to do was play with people. I stopped working on solo music and started working on music for Spry. There had to be a bass line, some melody, some harmony, and a pulse to it.
When I told our drummer, Joey Baron, about the project, he said, “I hope there’s going to be some blues, because I really love the way you play the blues.”
I had not been thinking of this as a blues record; I was inspired more by Julian Lage and his trio, Bill Frisell on his Valentine record, and Wolfgang Muthspiel. But, that conversation with Joey pushed me to think about tunes like “Mitchum” and “And They All Sang.” I like the blues, but I hadn’t thought of it.
There’s a beautiful sense of space on Spry. You’re in no rush.
That’s been a part of my style, naturally, for a lot of years. I wanted a lot of space because I needed to leave room for the other guys to do stuff, not crowd the conversation. I want to leave room for the listener and their ideas and imagination.
Why a 335?
Part of it is all the years I spent with one. I got one when I was 13 and thought they looked cool. I told my guitar teacher I might want to be a studio guitarist, so he recommended a 335. I was in high school in the early ’80s, learning from records, and nobody played a 335; I liked Jeff Beck and Tom Petty, so I could never get the sound when I played along. I was trying to learn “Unchained” on a 335 (laughs).
My tastes changed, and by the time I had money to buy another guitar, I’d put so many years into the 335 that I didn’t know how to make anything else sound good. I do now, but you can plug a 335 into anything and it’s all there. A Tele or a Strat takes a different touch and you have to think about the relationship between the guitar and the amp. What you wouldn’t want with a 335 is a dark-sounding amp. I used a Blues Junior on the album and what I generally do is turn the Bass down.
You play acoustic on “There’s Always One.”
That’s a Collings DS2H, a 12-fret. I made the demos on acoustic, and the day before the session, Joey said, “Oh, you’re going to make an acoustic record?” I told him, “Uh, no (laughs).” I hadn’t thought of it as an acoustic record, but after he said that I thought there might be a couple tunes that’d be better that way.
Another tune, “Sidewalk Chalk,” is acoustic, and I used a combination of the K&K Pure Mini pickup running into a Rupert Neve DI. They also used a stereo pair of Telefunken M60 mics in an XY pattern, so it’s a blend of the pickup and the microphone sound. There’s a bit of bleed everywhere so it sounds like you’re in the room with us. I wanted to invite people in.
Does “Mitchum” have anything to do with Robert Mitchum, and are you using a tremolo pedal?
It definitely has to do with Robert Mitchum (laughs), who I think is cool as f**k! So much charisma. The song is 100 percent Robert Mitchem.
As for the sound, I was getting dirt from a JHS Overdrive Preamp into a Jam pedals Delay Llama and a Harmonious Monk.
Any chance of the trio touring?
That would be a dream come true. Joey lives overseas, I’m in Brooklyn, and the bass player, Larry Grenadier, lives a couple of hours north of me in Kingston, New York. I’m hoping we can do some shows in Europe. I was so focused on the record that I didn’t really think through the odds of us playing gigs together, but I really would love to do it.
This article originally appeared in VG’s February 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
