Hank Levy
Composer · Arranger · Teacher · 1927–2001
He wrote big-band jazz in fives, sevens, nines and thirteens for Don Ellis and Stan Kenton, then built the jazz program at Towson State. He taught generations of us to feel those meters as music, not math.
“The fellow who has really been pretty much directly responsible for the time revolution in modern jazz.”
A student’s appreciation
I studied jazz composition with Hank at Towson State in the late 1980s. In my own words: “It was my studies with Hank Levy that opened my eyes to the world of unconventional time signatures and exotic meters. Hank also introduced me to the music of Pat Metheny and Don Ellis.”
He was my first composition teacher and a major force in shaping my musical direction. My first big-band chart, “Guess Who?” (1988), was written under his tutelage. The title owns up to how much it borrowed from his “A Peek into a New Time Zone.” My doctoral dissertation, The Exotic Rhythms of Don Ellis (Peabody, 2002), is dedicated to him.
This site gathers what can be documented about Hank’s life and music in one place, with sources, so it can be heard as well as read.
— Sean Fenlon
Hear the time revolution
A tap-along meter player built from Hank’s own groupings: Whiplash in 14/8, Chain Reaction in 13/8 and more.
The basement interview
A microcassette I recorded with Hank about Don Ellis, inaudible for three decades and partly recovered in 2026.
Life
From Barrington Road and the Kenton bari chair to Towson, the Ellis band and the Army’s Jazz Ambassadors.
The music
The works, their meters and who recorded them, drawn from Hank’s own notes and the family’s anthology.
Watch and listen
Hand-picked videos from a 107-item playlist I have kept for years, plus the 1989 Towson ensemble on SoundCloud.
Students and legacy
The players and writers who came through Hank’s program, and the bands that still play his book.
Start here
Dick Slade’s documentary about Hank, about two hours long.
Quick answers
Who was Hank Levy?
Hank Levy (Henry J. Levy, 1927–2001) was a Baltimore jazz composer, arranger and educator. He wrote odd-meter big-band music for the Don Ellis Orchestra from 1965 and for Stan Kenton from 1969, and he founded and directed the jazz program at Towson State (now Towson University) from 1968 until he retired in 1989.
What is Hank Levy known for?
He wrote big-band jazz in “odd” time signatures such as 5/4, 7/4, 9/4, 13/8 and 14/8. Stan Kenton credited him as the man “pretty much directly responsible for the time revolution in modern jazz.” His best-known pieces include “Whiplash,” “Chain Reaction,” “Chiapas” and “A Time for Love.”
Did Hank Levy write “Whiplash”?
Yes. Hank wrote “Whiplash” in 1973, and the Don Ellis Orchestra recorded it on the album Soaring. It starts in 7/4 and moves into 14/8. The 2014 film Whiplash takes its title from the chart.
Where can I get Hank Levy’s charts?
Through Hank Levy Jazz, LLC, the family’s site at HankLevyJazz.com. Some Kenton-era charts are also published by Sierra Music.