Pete lays down a mixture of straight-ahead jazz, funk and the experimental, performed live in the studio by an all-star 7-piece band featuring saxophonist Alex Foster and anchored by three iconic rhythm section players, Lenny White, Tony Levin and Nanny Assis

ALBUM NOTES

In a diverse music career spanning several decades, keyboardist/arranger Pete Levin has performed and recorded with hundreds of Jazz and Pop artists - (including Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Miles Davis, David Sanborn, Lenny White, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Robbie Robertson and John Scofield) - receiving critical accolades for his electric keyboard work during a 15 year association with the legendary Gil Evans and his 8 year stint with jazz icon Jimmy Giuffre.

Pete says; “What I got from Gil (Evans) was the unshakable notion that playing music was to create from a place where there are no boundaries. If it can be imagined then it can be done.

"I've been wanting to do this band project for a while, with this collection of music in mind. It includes a couple of my older pieces and some new ones that were written for this album. I also included two cover songs: A salute to Monk on his 100th birthday year, and a Tony Williams piece that’s always fascinated me."

To do it, Pete assembled a 7-piece all-star band: Alex Foster (Charles Mingus, Saturday Night Live) - saxophone, Chris Pasin (Buddy Rich, Toshiko Akiyoshi) - trumpet, Jeff Ciampa (Harry Belafonte, Al MacDowell) - guitar, Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) - bass, Lenny White (Miles Davis, Chick Corea) - drums, and Nanny Assis (Vinicius Cantauria, Deodato) – percussion.

MöBIUS was recorded in 2 days, live in the studio with an essentially unrehearsed band. Even with great players and meticulous planning, the rule is, expect the unexpected - in other words, there'll be some good surprises and an occasional train-wreck. But that’s when the magic happens. Mixing process aside, what you hear on the album is essentially what the band played - no overdubbing. A couple of the tracks are actually first takes. Pete did his first solo album that way in 1989. What goes around comes around.

And there’s the inspiration for the title:

A Möbius Strip is created from a two-dimensional rectangle by holding one end, twisting the opposite end 180 degrees, and joining it to the first end to create a continuous flat surface. Unlike a circle’s continuous outer surface, if you could walk on a Möbius Strip you’d travel on the inner and outer surfaces in a continuous, never-ending loop. Similarly, Pete's composition "MöBIUS" is built on a looping bass line, a 12-tone row that repeats endlessly. Once it gets going there’s no beginning and no end. There were no assigned solos. Pete wrote some riffs and more tone rows for the horns to play on cue, but otherwise it was roll tape and whatever happens, happens. This recording, a first take, is literally its first performance. The players ran out of ideas after around 10 minutes, but some great stuff went down along the way.

The set finishes with a wildcard track. “WAY DOWN YONDER” is from an earlier, unfinished and unreleased project that was built on Pete's organ trio. Pete is playing organ (and organ bass) with an unusual rhythm section for a jazz album, former Peter Gabriel drummer Jerry Marotta and blues guitarist Kal David. Alex and Chris, the MöBIUS band's horn players, are augmented by Erik Lawrence (bari sax) and Rob Paparozzi (harmonica)

Pete shares a bit of trivia: "Gil Evans used to end live sets by playing a descending tri-tone riff on piano. When we recorded “I MEAN YOU” I ended with that same riff. Alex heard it and broke up, then everybody did. When we mixed the track, we decided to leave it in. There’s something of Gil in everything I do!"